A Place Called Home
by Ellen Fitzwilliam Brandybuck
Summary: Awakened from cryogenic sleep by Terra Prime, Vulcan-Augment hybrid Elonat is unwittingly drawn into an interstellar political game that could destroy the Federation. Kidnapped by Romulans, ostracized Vulcans, tortured by humans, held hostage by Andorians, and threatened by Klingons, these are but a few of her problems. But then there is the problem of the heart and who it wants...
1. A Caitian Brother

_This story features an OC introduced in another Star Trek Enterprise story "Beyond Carbon Creek." It is not necessary to read that story to understand this one (this first chapter will give some background at the same time that it'll move the plot forward) but you might enjoy it if you enjoy the character Mestral from the episode "Carbon Creek." Additionally, there will feature another OC, Brenna Jones, who has two of her own stories, one in TOC and the other in Star Trek 2009 (check them out if you like tongue-in-cheek humor). I do not own anything regarding the Star Trek franchise, I only claim the original ideas spawned from it and the OC's created here. If you like these OCs or this idea and would like to use them in your own work please PM me and link me to your story and give credit where credit is due. Please leave comments/requests on canon characters you'd like to see, situations you think could be fun to orchestrate, as well as your critiques and/or praise. Thank you in advance for your support. Cheers!_

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What frustrated Elonat had little to do with the pain they inflicted when they tried to beat information out of her, though that was most assuredly connected; it wasn't her humiliation of being poked and prodded and paraded around naked, her modesty stolen from her as if she were nothing more than some lab rat to be tossed around; it also wasn't the fact that the people who were doing all this were more related to her genetically than her grandfather had been, though their actions proved their utter lack of humanity. No, what frustrated her was the fact that it had all been for nothing.

The lottery that had "awarded" her cryogenic sleep in the hopes of saving some decent humanity from World War 3 had been for nothing. She'd never wanted it and would've been content to die with her father and grandfather, but they'd insisted that her very uniqueness was all the more reason why she should comply with the lottery. They'd all but had to sedate her to get her to comply and there'd been much tears shed on her part and partially on her father's when it had come time to lay down in the pod (her grandfather had been distraught in his own Vulcan way). Prior to waking up on the lab table with these monsters hovering above her, her last sight had been that of her father and grandfather standing on either side of her cryogenic pod, waiting for her to fall asleep. It'd taken longer for her to be put into the cryogenic sleep, due to her augmented DNA, but it had eventually taken effect.

But what good had that ever done, her uniqueness? Her "uniqueness" had killed her mother when the Augments had refused to hand Elonat over after they'd kidnapped her from the hospital. They had been attracted to Elonat by her non-human characteristics (green blood, elflike ears, obvious non-human mixture of genetics), seeing her as the perfect specimen to do further Augment experiments on. It'd taken the sacrifice of her mother and a few others to rescue her from their clutches. A great many years passed for her to come to terms with her uniqueness in a somewhat positive way after that, and this was not at all helped by the fact that other humans seemed just as inclined to reject her non-human side as she was.

Her "uniqueness" had always been a barrier between her and the rest of humanity, they being doubly cautious of her because her of alien blood and then because of the Augment serums that had melded to her DNA and changed her in ways that had yet to be fully understood even at the time of her cryogenic sleep. Due to her quarter-Vulcan now Augment altered DNA, she'd always been faster in mind and body, stronger and quicker to heal than her counterparts and that had done her no favors growing up in a society of distrust as it was prior to World War 3. Even amid the refugee camp that their ranch became during the early years of the war, when people from all over and all walks of life came crawling to her father and grandfather for shelter—despite their own obvious alien and half-alien natures—humans had treated her with arm's length cordiality. Due to her family's efforts to ensure that she had a stellar education and training, this raggle-taggle society trusted her abilities as a professional and her educational credentials, but they'd been uninterested in her soul. She'd hidden it well enough behind grit and a determination to live up to the expectations she projected her mother and grandmother to have had for her, but it'd always hurt like hell the: passive aggressive rejection she received.

Now-Elonat winced but kept her mouth shut against the scream she knew they wanted to tear from her throat-now she was pissed off because the sacrifices of her family had been for nothing. The cryogenic chamber she and the others chosen had been in may have survived centuries after the War but none of them had woken up to a world they'd hoped for. Many in the chamber had been killed in the very process of being discovered and only her pod and a half dozen others had survived. However, where the others had been welcomed into the bosoms of the group of individuals who'd done the discovering—who she now knew to be a hyper xenophobic militant group called Terra Prime—she'd been taken aside to be tested and experimented on. How could it be, they wondered, that a 2/3rds Vulcan-human hybrid could be discovered cryogenically sleeping in a chamber that had been buried long before "first contact" was officially made between Vulcan and Earth? Her very existence challenged the core of their beliefs and they would not stand for it. They would exact their revenge on the truth of her life with her green blood.

In spite of the pain they'd exact, as long as she could help it, she wasn't about to tell them a thing. Though they questioned her parentage, her connections to Vulcan, her ties to the Augments, they didn't deserve to know. She would not tell them about the love shared between the voluntarily marooned Vulcan Mestral and her grandmother Jodi Madsen in the 20th century; somehow, she felt that in the telling she would tarnish their memory. They also didn't need to know about the health problems her father Murac had had to overcome in his childhood to survive to adulthood when he'd found her mother Edith and had created a life bond with her. And they sure as hell didn't need to know about the Augments and her family's reluctant involvement in the Eugenics Wars. They already knew she had Augment-influenced DNA but they hadn't pushed her so far that she'd felt inclined to explain why. No, she was content enough to let them stew in their confusion even if it meant further pain.

And besides, the pain from their torture seemed to have brought at least one glimmer of good. At least, so far Elonat assumed it was good. Either her mental status was becoming disrupted and she was retreating further into a fantasy world with every passing day, or, well Elonat wasn't quite sure what the alternative was. For it seemed, from time to time, her mind would drift into a memory not her own or she would find herself thinking of a fact that she'd never studied and could find no connection to. In truth, it felt as if two very distinct consciousness were now sharing her mind, filtering in and out of the forefront of her brain depending upon how much pain she was in. Although it would be hard to explain to someone in words, Elonat recognized the "feel" of the consciousness of both her father Murac and her grandfather Mestral. The strongest thoughts and memories seemed to be the most foreign, and she attributed those to Mestral, while the weaker ones seemed to hold the "feel" of her father Murac. She didn't know how, or why, they were weaving about in her mind but they were they and they were most assuredly a comfort.

"Maybe we should toss her in with the cat." One of her current torturers interrupted his torture and her not-memory of meditating on a cliff overlooking a sea of sand. She could barely see since her eyes were near swollen shut from the beating they'd administered just moments before. The Augment serum allowed to her to naturally heal faster than most humans, but she still got bruised and bloodied the same as any other. Plus, they'd yet to unhook her from the stream of electricity that kept her incapacitated; from the moment she'd awakened they'd kept her hooked up to it either through restraints on her ankles and wrists or through straps held against her forehead and torso. Her body had not had the time to recover, either from the cryogenic sleep or their torture. "We haven't fed him in a few days," the man continued, "could be fun to watch to see who comes out on top."

His companion responded from further away, closer to the door, "I'm bored with this anyway. They didn't say she couldn't get maimed a bit. They'd probably not look too kindly at a lost limb and we obviously can't let her die without their say so…"

"Of course." Torturer One reached down and pressed in a code on the panel of her chair. The bone-jarring electricity ceased and she momentarily felt her natural energy and vitality begin to return but restraints were placed on her wrists and ankles and the electricity returned, sapping her once more into a state of reluctant compliancy. "Get the others. We'll see if we can get some bets going on who will win."

Elonat was dragged from the room and soon enough there was a small crowd filling the corridor behind her two torturers. She had no idea where those in charge had disappeared, the ones who had ordered her tortured and tested, the ones who'd tried the "nice guy" route of getting information from her before they'd resorted to the "bad guy" route she was currently getting. She hadn't seen them in some time and had been left with the thugs of this organization, the type who lacked brains but "made up for it" with brawn.

She didn't even know how long it'd been since they'd first woke her up. Her days and nights had been relentlessly strung together with intermittent interrogation, testing, torture, and repeat. She'd begun to hallucinate the sounds of her family, their faces too, her brain was so fragile from lack of sleep. Once, she'd imagined herself flying back over the fields of their ranch, her noncorporeal body reaching out for the arms of her mother, only to be slammed back into the reality of the electric chair when an exceedingly painful needle was jabbed into her temple with the intent of extracting brain tissue for study.

They emerged from the building and began to drag her across a reddish hued ground. Blinking at the light of what felt to be two suns overhead and coughing at the air quality difference, Eloant realized that this was the first time she'd been outside. She didn't bother trying to look around, the crowd around them was too think and her eyesight had still yet to recover from the beating, but at the same time she didn't need to look around to know that wherever they were was most assuredly not Earth. Everything about this place that she'd experienced so far bespoke an otherworldly truth.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty." They drew to a stop at the edge of circular basin lined at the top with an invisible barrier—she could hear the hum of its existence even if it couldn't be seen with the naked eye. "We brought you a chew toy."

Elonat had no warning. One moment she was suspended between her two torturers, whom she'd decided to call Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and the next she was tumbling head over foot down the jagged edge of the basin. Her already abused and broken skin only flayed open more in her descent until she landed in a dusty and painful heap at the bottom. Naked as she still was, there was no protection for her body from the burning suns overhead nor from the burn of the dust. It felt as if the dust itself had some sort of acidic nature in it that further aggravated her wounds. It took a moment for the world to stop spinning and once it did she felt the electricity from her ankle and wrist cuffs stop.

"Some comfort," she mumbled against the dirt.

Once her body adjusted and began its recovery, she raised her head just enough to take in her immediate surroundings. About ten feet away from her on her left there was a single pipe jutting out from the basin wall, a slow trickle of water coming out of it and emptying into a wooden trough. She looked both ahead and to her right. Ahead of her, perhaps another ten feet away, was a shadowed area that belied a possible cave-like entrance. On her right there was a pile of rubbish, the items most noticeable to her being bleached bones stacked neatly against the basin wall. Whatever "cat" they'd tossed her in with at least had the ability to be organized which told her he could have some reasoning capacity.

"Water," Elonat interrupted her own thoughts with her most pressing need. If there was to be a fight, as her torturers so desired, she would need water to strengthen her.

She dragged herself over to the pipe, unable to stand just yet, and braced her hands on the side of the trough. Her body weight was too much for the thing though and, instead of offering a solution to her dehydration problem, the trough overturned on top her head and it instead offered up a partial solution to her bath issue. Overhead she heard her torturers laugh and jeer as numbers were tossed back and forth between them.

Elonat shook her head, the water turning the dust in her shoulder-length brown hair to muddied dreadlocks. She pulled herself into a kneeling position over the last remaining part of the trough that was in one piece large enough to still hold water. Her hands were shaking too much to be of use to hold water and so she set her lips directly against the water and sucked it in. It felt as if all the cells in her body were reviving just from these few sips of liquid. She felt more alive in this one moment than she had since they'd woken her.

Just then she felt the sun's warmth disappear as a shadow passed over her. Elonat shifted her body weight to the side, one hand reaching for a broken piece of wood—pathetic excuse for a weapon—as she fell backwards and pointed the wood upwards. She couldn't see the features of the shadow, it was framed on either side of its shoulders by the twin suns in the sky. All Elonat could tell at this point was that the shadow was bipedal, tall, and had two arms. It also had yet to attack despite the encouraging taunts from her torturers above. She kept the wood in her hand and scooted backwards until her back was against the basin wall when the shadow began to crouch towards her.

"Here," the shadow held out an earthen cup to her, "take this."

Elonat stared at the contents—water—then looked to the hand that held the cup. It was more of a paw than a hand and the muscled arm attached to it was just as covered in black fur as the paw. Elonat's eyes continued their curious, and confused, journey until her eyes rested on an unmistakably feline-featured face: high cheekbones, pointed chin, wide forehead, elongated ears with tufts of white fur growing out of the edges. Yellow eyes that held a sentient light peered out at her from a black-furred face. There was nothing about this "cat" that hinted at aggression, aside from the retracted claws she could spot in his paws and the sizeable canines in his mouth when he spoke again.

"I did not add anything to it, in case you were worried that I tainted it." He shifted closer until the water was within easier reach.

Elonat nodded, dropping the wood, and took the cup with both hands. She drank slowly, her eyes ever on her feline companion. When she finished, he took the cup, refilled it, then brought it back again. As she drank more, the cries from the crowd started to register again. She eyed her companion with renewed apprehension.

"They seem to think that I am the type who would like to fight and eat human females." The feline's lips curled into a smile, his smile seemed more like a human snarl and did not leave Elonat comforted. "Though," the feline pointed to Elonat's face, her ears, and then his eyes traveled down the length of her broken body smeared with dirt and her green blood, "you don't appear to be wholly human either."

Elonat cleared her throat, "I hope that doesn't put me back on the menu."

The feline blinked at her words then let out a strange sound, a combination of a roar and a coughing like sound. It took Elonat a moment to realize that he was laughing.

"No," he shook his head and swiped a paw at a bug that flew by his face, "it does not. I am Caitian. It would go against my nature and my culture to bring you to any harm. You are weakened and without defense or a protective clan, it would be a dishonorable kill." He took his warm gaze from her and sent an exasperated look towards the lot above them. "These barbarians haven't bothered to do their research on my kind or else they would have known to have thrown you in with the Andorian female adjacent to me or even the Romulan commander further down the way if they'd wanted to see some violence."

The crowd above grew silent then and both Elonat and her Caitian companion shifted in order to see what could have brought the silence. Elonat frowned. It was the presence of one of the "nice guys," and he was listening with a neutral expression as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum both attempted to explain why she was down here. There was much gesturing, the words too muffled to be caught clearly down here, and eventually the "nice guy" signaled to some other goons and her two torturers were escorted away to some unknown fate. The "nice guy" looked down at her, spoke to the men standing closest to him, then disappeared. Both Elonat and the Caitian waited but soon enough it became apparent to them both that for whatever reason, for the time being, she was to be left with him.

"I am Mr'ish." The Caitian placed a paw over his heart and bowed his leopard-like head to her once they refocused their attention on one another.

"Elonat." Elonat put her hands down on either side of her hips and pushed but very little happened aside from her near toppling over.

"If you will permit me," Mr'ish held his paws out towards her, pads ups, "I can assist you into my dwelling place. I have some rations to share and I believe my coat will provide better protection for you than your natural state."

Elonat slumped against the wall with a sigh, "Mr'ish I will do more than permit you. I will require you to carry me I'm afraid."

Mr'ish let out a purring like noise and Elonat guessed that this was his version of a controlled chuckle. It felt strange, his soft fur rubbing against her sensitive skin as he placed an arm under her knees and another beneath her shoulders. He wore leggings, boots, and a simple t-shirt, most likely the undershirt of whatever outfit he'd been wearing when he'd first been brought here. She could feel the power of his well-muscled body as he moved silently across the floor of the basin towards the shadowed opening she'd spotted earlier. It was such a harsh difference from everything she'd been exposed to so far, this gentleness Mr'ish appeared to be showing her, that Elonat was overcome and she fell asleep with tears in her eyes.

When she woke again, Elonat immediately took note of the fact that she was clean for the first time since she'd been awakened by Terra Prime. The dirt and crusted blood from repeated beatings had all been washed away and her wounds were as dressed as they could be given their surroundings. She lay in a concave circular straw-filled sleeping area covered with a thin blanket, wearing the promised coat. When she peeled away the blanket and began to sit up, Elonat took note of the military-esque insignias on the coat.

"I wonder..." She spoke more to herself but tensed when Mr'ish replied.

"I am a Caitian ambassador." Mr'ish spoke up from just over the edge of the sleeping area, the tufts of fur on his ears the first thing visible to her roving eyes. "Or at least I was until Terra Prime abducted me. They are holding me and the Andorian ambassador hostage in the hopes that our people will withdraw from the proposed Federation of Planets charter." He looked over to Elonat expecting her to know what he was talking about. He tipped his head to the side when he took note of her blank expression. "You know nothing about what I'm saying, do you?"

Elonat shook her head, "No, I don't."

"That is most curious." Mr'ish picked up the bowl he'd been heating up over a single burner and retrieved a spoon before sitting on the edge of the sleeping area near her. "Elonat, would you be willing to explain to me who you are and why they treat you as they do?"

Elonat smiled, "How do I know you aren't working for them and this is just another ploy for them to try to pry out my truths?" She took the bowl from his offered paws and nodded at his semi-offended facial expression.

"You do not know Caitians then, if you would think me capable of that, but I would gather that you do not know much about Andorians either." He paused and watched her carefully. Elonat smiled over the edge of her bowl and sipped at the broth he'd warmed up. "Or Romulans." The broth was salty and savory and she knew that though it lacked spice it would do her body good. Mr'ish shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. "You are an enigma, Elonat, and much stronger than any other human female I've encountered." He stood up then and set about his small dwelling place organizing things he'd used to help clean her up. "While I promise I did not take liberties with your body while you slept I could not help but notice the strain these people put you under." His searching gaze had Elonat's cheeks warming and she hid behind her efforts to drain the bowl of broth. "What I know of Terra Prime tells me that they would never do that to another full-blooded human and while they've been more than unpleasant with me and the Andorian female, they have not sought to torture either of us since we are more valuable to them in relatively good health than not. You, however, seem to be unattached and expendable to them."

Elonat finished the broth and handed the bowl back to Mr'ish when he came to retrieve it. "It is as you say, Mr'ism. I do not have a government willing to ransom me and I am not fully human for them to claim ties with. I'm human enough to be spared immediate death but not human enough to be spared the rest of what they've done to me or intend to do."

"Have they," Mr'ish averted his gaze, "have they harmed you in any intimate ways?"

"No," Elonat found it curious that he would ask that but her curiosity was satiated when Mr'ish sighed and explained himself.

"Though they have acted as monsters to you, I am glad to know they did not do that. Already, if given the chance with a rescue, I would be gratified to see all these men suitably punished for their wrongs. However, if they had harmed you in that way," Mr'ish shook his head, "Caitians do not take kindly to individuals with such disrespect for another's freedom of choice. I told you before that it is not in our nature to bring another to harm if we can help it. However, we do believe that there is a time and place when such violence can and should be released."

"That is comforting, Mr'ish." Elonat pulled herself out of the sleeping area and swung her legs over the edge. "Thank you." She tipped her head to the side. "You mentioned a Federation of Planets charter that you and the Andorian female are being held hostage against." Elonat knew she was taking a chance in exposing her displacement in time by asking the question but she couldn't help her curiosity. "Could you explain that to me?"

Mr'ish, if he suspected anything other than her genuine curiosity, did not show it and instead went through a basic summary of events that had led up to his abduction. The development and implementation of earth space exploration to other solar systems and from that the tentative alliance among different planets and species with the humans. He mentioned names of known races at such a rapid pace that Elonat's head began to hurt a bit but when he noticed her pinched smile he slowed down.

"The Andorian female being held here is ambassador Atharia Sh'avholnihr. She was already not a fan of 'pink skins', as the Andorians refer to humans, and I fear this episode will only further wall her against the idea of having more to do with them than occasional trade. It was hard enough convincing them to be on the same planet with Vulcans." Mr'ish scratched a paw behind his ear.

"Andorians don't like Vulcans?" Elonat's grandfather hadn't spoken much of the other alien races he'd known prior to coming to Earth. He'd spoken of his home on Vulcan and his clan but never of any others. However, as she asked the question, a responding sensation from her grandfather's consciousness confirmed.

Mr'ish snorted, "Once that would have been an understatement. However, through the efforts of the earth captain Archer and his crew onboard the starship _Enterprise_ the relationships between the two groups has warmed marginally. I don't think ambassador Atharia would immediately try to gut you if she saw your Vulcan ties."

"How did you know?" Elonat touched the tip of her right ear. She used to be frustrated at its sensitivity, and the harsh teasing she'd received from her peers because of it, but then she'd understood the illogic of being consumed with ideas about something she couldn't change.

"I know of few other races whose blood is green AND whose ears are such as yours. It is true that Romulans are assumed to be distantly related to Vulcans and so have ears and blood like yours, only they have distinguishable eyebrow ridges that you lack and they are more given to duplicitous actions and aggression than you have displayed." Before Elonat could challenge his assumptions, Mr'ish smiled. "A Romulan hybrid would never have felt safe enough to fall asleep in my presence regardless of how exhausted they were. A Vulcan hybrid would see the logic of resting and would do so, assessing the danger of remaining awake to be higher than that of taking a moment to rest."

Elonat chuckled, "Touche."

"What does that mean?" Mr'ish tipped his head to the side. "I am still learning Earth languages and I'm not familiar with that one."

"Well the original term was for sword fighting but in colloquial terms it means point taken."

Mr'ish repeated the word a few more times to himself and nodded, "I like that."

"You said there was a Romulan here as well, this distant relation to Vulcans?" Elonat watched Mr'ish's facial expression fall. "Is he not also being held hostage against the charter?"

"No, I'm not certain why he is being held here for it was he, or at least his crew, who first abducted myself and admiral Atharia and sold us to Terra Prime. Only he was betrayed and taken along with us. It is most strange for Romulans do not normally venture this far out of their system. Of course, we are on the edge of the Alpha Quadrant at this abandoned colony but still I have not pieced together why a Romulan commander would be motivated to get involved in such matters when it has little to do with Romulus."

Elonat yawned then at the same time that Mr'ish did. The light of the two suns had rapidly been replaced by a singular moon, bathing everything in a silver glow. They shared a smile of understanding. Elonat looked around the small area and saw that there would be no space large enough or comfortable enough for Mr'ish's six foot+ frame to sleep in. Mr'ish didn't comment on that though and appeared to be making an effort to settle into his seat by the single burner near the entrance.

"Mr'ish, I do not mind sharing this space with you." He looked surprised. "I don't know what your culture feels about sharing sleeping arrangements with unattached females but there truly is no other space for you to sleep and I promise I'll keep my hands to myself." She put her hands behind her back and gave her best innocent smile.

"Are you implying that my hesitancy to sleep with you is because I fear you'll molest me?"

Elonat laughed, "Not really. I was joking. But seriously Mr'ish, at this point in time you are the only gentle and kind creature I've known in a very long time. As you saw for yourself, I've not had the best treatment here for some time and so I'm rather desperate for comfort. Having you by my side would help a lot." She may have laid on the passive aggressive guilt trip a bit heavy but it worked. Soon enough Mr'ish settled in beside her, his back against hers, and Elonat smiled at the shared warmth.

She'd never shared a bed with another male outside of her family, and even then that'd been when she was very young. She knew males of any species tended to have higher temperatures and Mr'ish was no different. She didn't find his warmth nor his furry nature bothersome, however, and she did feel the assumed comfort she said she would feel. With an internal sigh she settled more under the blankets and asked, "Are you attached Mr'ish?"

"Are you asking because you want to attach to me?" Even without seeing his face Elonat detected the teasing lilt in his deep voice. Elonat pushed her back against his and felt his purring chuckle vibrate through her chest. "Yes, I am married. One of my wives is on my home planet Feresa with my six children. The other is waiting for me on Earth, having preceded me for the conference. And you?"

"No. Before I came here all I've known is hardship in the realm of romance. I was born in a time of war and the last I knew there was still war. My non-human ties never endeared me to anyone enough to merit a romantic relationship." She sighed and burrowed further under the blanket. "It seems that'll continue to be a trend."

Mr'ish emitted the closest thing to a growl she'd heard since she'd met him but it didn't frighten her. She somehow knew that he didn't intend it for her.

"Elonat, they will not take you from me easily. You said you have no government willing to fight for you so then I will."

Elonat turned to face him as Mr'ish turned to face her as well. She reached out and petted a hand down his furry cheek.

"I appreciate that Mr'ish but I can't allow you to do that. You have too much at stake to risk your life for an unknown and, in all honesty, expendable female you just met. You are an ambassador and worth far more alive than dead." Mr'ish opened his mouth to argue but Elonat shook her head. "Please. Think to what sort of future you want your children to have. If joining this Federation will ensure them a better future then you have to let them take me so you can survive this place and continue on your mission. Their future is worth more than my life."

Mr'ish was silent, his yellow eyes near glowing in the dark as he studied her. After a few moments she saw his white teeth in a smile. "Are you sure you aren't Caitian as well as Vulcan?"

"Why?" Elonat smiled.

"Because what you just said sounded very Caitian." Mr'ish rolled onto his back and without preamble pulled Elonat against him. She knew it was a comforting gesture and not romantic and so settled comfortably by his side. "I will call you Sister Elonat for that is our way. When you meet my children, they will call you Aunt Elonat. And you can rest now knowing that you are not alone for you have a Caitian brother at your side."

Elonat yawned, "Are all Caitians so optimistic?"

"It is the key to our survival. Now sleep, Elonat, and regain your strength."

She didn't need to be told twice. Within moments of his silence she was asleep once more in the arms of her Caitian brother.


	2. A Discussion on Torture

_I hope you enjoy the inclusion of my Romulans!_ _The Romulan, Jikain, I see having the body type of the Romulan Admiral Valdore of Star Trek Enterprise but the face (minus tattoos) of the Romulan Ayel as seen in Star Trek 2009._ _This takes place prior to the Earth-Romulan war, though just barely, so things are leading in that direction. Enjoy!_

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The following morning Elonat felt much more herself and much readier to face down whatever hellish treatment the bastards threw at her today. Her grandmother had always been a spitfire, though kind as well, and she'd been told her mother had had her own share of grit and gumption. Elonat always assumed her more volatile nature and her desire to fight against any effort to control her had come from her human ancestry, while her sense of long-term thinking and calculating nature came from the Vulcan side. Regardless, Terra Prime would find that she was going to be much less compliant now and it was reassuring that she felt much less vulnerable now that she had a friend in this century.

Also, it seemed that the rest had done her brain some good as well. For now the sweeping consciousness' that shared her brain had settled into two different "corners" of her mind. The weaker one had taken place further away from her own ready consciousness and it took greater effort on her part to interact with it and share memories from it. The stronger one was closer to the front of her mind and had, throughout the night, shared a dream with her that was most assuredly a memory of faces and places she'd never been and all that were alien in nature. She still didn't the hows and whys of it, but Elonat was grateful for their presence. It bolstered her spirits, reminded her of where she came from, and gave her an extra oomph that she knew she'd need.

Terra Prime been at an advantage before, having taken her directly from her cryogenic pod and immediately hooking her up to devices that kept her incapacitated in some fashion. She'd never been given the chance to fully recover her strength until last night and she would make sure they regretted their negligence. The food Mr'ish had shared and the restorative sleep had done much towards giving her the strength she would need to exact revenge against these xenophobic monsters. Of course, all in good time. She was still weighing the pros and cons of continuing to act the damsel in distress in regards to health and strength versus displaying her Augment influenced strength levels. She didn't want to endanger Mr'ish, or even the Andorian ambassador she'd yet to meet, with any of her antics. And she would prefer to act out only if she had a goal to acting out, namely an escape route. Right now, escape would be illogical as she had no place to go and no one to go to.

Elonat brushed her palms over the length of Mr'ish's coat once she stood at the edge of their basin cage, waiting for him to join her. They'd all been let out of their basin cages only a few minutes prior with instructions to follow their guards to the main building. They were to wait until both the Andorian ambassador and the Romulan commander joined them before proceedings to the building. Elonat tugged at the coat hem; it barely reached past the rounding of her rear. Mr'ish had offered her his trousers, stating that nudity was not seen as unpropitious for Caitians since many on his planet were fur covered like he was. She'd declined his offer not out of a desire to continue to flash herself at all these people but more so because she had a sinking suspicion that her captors would soon enough rob her of the coat (power play) and she'd rather take off just the coat than have to bend over, flashing more intimate areas, to rid herself of the pants too. This whole ordeal, including what was being done to Mr'ish and the Andorian, was really grating on her nerves and she felt her stomach roil with discontent.

She'd never thought of herself as a violent person and in the time prior to her cryogenic sleep she'd only gotten into perhaps a dozen physical fights. All of those had been because of a misunderstanding of intent from others to herself (she would not play the victim, she knew she was part of the problem), and she had won all the fights (even against the much larger opponents) but once she'd gone through puberty her emotional turbulence had rectified itself a bit (and thankfully she'd understood the danger her Augmented strength posed to others if she wasn't careful). She was more prone to emotional outbursts than her father had been, and most assuredly more than her grandfather, but the Augment serum didn't influence her emotions, as far as she could tell, and it was merely the balancing out of Vulcan emotional strengths with humans that had caused such turbulence. She was more pragmatic and practical when it came to emotions than her peers had been, and that too had been a barrier between her and members of the opposite sex. She had her desires, strong ones too, but her father and grandfather had taught her how to meditate through them instead of allowing them to overtake her.

But the serum did come into play whenever she grew emotionally unstable and lashed out physically (which in her adult years had not happened much). Elonat had had to repair more than a few pieces of furniture which had borne the brunt of an emotional outburst. She was a skilled carpenter and engineer in some rights because of that. Her grandfather had "scared the truth" of her strength into her when he'd melded with her and showed her some of the things he'd seen other Augments do (they'd not allowed her to leave the ranch once it'd turned into a makeshift refugee camp) and how they were always associated with emotional outbursts. "Being Vulcan does not mean one does not have feelings," he'd told her, "Vulcans have strong urges and impulses that humans would define as feelings only they have had to purge themselves of these to rise above their violent natures. Understand that a sandstorm of violence lurks behind every controlled movement a Vulcan makes, and that is why they are so controlled. Do not press against that control, and seek to find some for yourself."

Elonat looked to the main building which housed most of the "nice guys" who had orchestrated all this hell. Yes, she did not see herself as a violent person but that did not mean she would not gladly exact some violence on those individuals responsible if given the chance. She'd exert control over her violence, but it seemed that violence would be necessary before too long in order to rectify this situation. She'd inherited her grandmother's gumption for justice more so than she'd inherited her mother's sense of empathy.

Crunching footsteps from her left had her swinging her attention in that direction just in time to catch sight of twin blue antennae curving down and inward and pointing directly towards her. She'd never seen anything like this Andorian and hoped her blatant surprise was not interpreted as offensive. Elonat actually found the combination of blue skin and white hair to be attractive, though the present scowl on the older woman's face marred the attraction level.

"What is THAT?"

Elonat didn't even flinch at the terminology. She'd heard worse and had been treated accordingly. Her friend, however, did take exception and Mr'ish stepped closer to Elonat and waved a paw in front of her torso, "She is not a 'that', Ambassador Atharia, she is a 'she' and should be addressed accordingly."

Elonat couldn't help but smile at the look of incredulity the Andorian ambassador leveled at Mr'ish. Her smile froze right off her face, however, when the Andorian antennae swung back in her direction, followed by the gaze of the female ambassador. It felt as if the ambassador could see beneath her skin due to the combined perusal of both eye and antennae. Elonat refused to shift uncomfortably on her feet, though she was in fact uncomfortable, and instead maintained a neutral expression as she waited for the woman to satisfy herself with her observations. As both ambassadors appeared preoccupied either with perusal or preparing for a defense of said perusal, Elonat noticed a third individual escorted by guards coming their direction from an even further basin cage. That must be the Romulan commander.

"You are perhaps the worst looking human I have ever encountered." Ambassador Atharia narrowed her eyes even more as she continued to stare down Elonat. "Tell me, are you always this unkempt or is that unique to this time and place?"

Amused and far from offended Elonat smiled, "I can assure you that this is not how I usually garb myself whilst in public and neither do I have a propensity of self-harm in order for my face and body to sport these particular colors." She pointed to the green and bluish bruises still visible on her face. "Truthfully, I like to wear a variety of colors in my wardrobe but not directly on my skin." The antennae twitched and Elonat saw some of the tense lines around the ambassador's eyes soften, but only a smidgen. "And I am not the worst looking human you've ever seen. The only reason why I'm here, privileged to meet both yourself and Ambassador Mr'ish, is because I am a human-Vulcan hybrid, and that I'm sure you have never seen."

The Romulan commander and his guards stopped just beside Atharia as Elonat finished speaking. It was uncanny, how similar his features looked to her grandfather's race, yet Mr'ish had been right, there were also distinct features that set the Romulan as different from a Vulcan. And it was not merely a skin color variety. It seemed, at least at this initial observation, that Vulcans were kinder in the face (but Elonat recognized her bias due to her limited exposure), their features more elf-like and elongated, whereas the Romulans were a strange mixture of rounded squareness. In addition, and it again could be due to limited exposure to Vulcans, it seemed the Vulcans had lithe svelte power and build while the Romulans were barrel-chested, with thicker arms and thighs that belied great strength (aggressive strength). Everything about the Romulan, that she'd seen thus far, confirmed what Mr'ish had said, and what her grandfather's consciousness had implied, that Romulans were far more violent, less controlled, and most assuredly not trusthworthy.

Elonat didn't bother averting her studious eyes when the Romulan commander took in her entire personage in the same blatant way she had him. He showed no physical reaction to her presence or her earlier words and it made her wonder if Romulans were perhaps better at controlling their emotions than she'd earlier assumed or if it was that their culture was so duplicitous that they had been trained from an early age to refrain from showing outward interest to a new situation.

"Actually," the head "nice guy" spoke up from behind her and they all turned their attention towards him, "she has seen a human-Vulcan hybrid. They all have. The child's existence was broadcast from the Mars colony to all of Starfleet space." Elonat's heart sped up at the thought that there might be others out there like herself, for we all seek to find others we can call kindred. "We wanted all to see the abomination that would result from further inclusion of non-human species in what is rightfully human space." Eloant blinked. "Sadly, our leaders involved in that incident were overwhelmed by the crew of the starship _Enterprise,_ but our point was made and will not long be forgotten." The smile he gave Elonat had the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.

"Because now you have me."

"Correct." The man stepped to the side and gestured for them to move forward. Elonat was the first to start forward but had to stop when the man moved back into her path. "The Ambassador will be in need of his coat."

Elonat didn't bother protesting and reached for the coat fastenings. Mr'ish held out his hand to stop her, "I insist that she keep it. I have no need for it."

"Ah, but I say you do. You will be making another transmission to your people in a few minutes and I want you looking your very best." The man held out his hand towards Elonat.

She was glad for her earlier decision to not take the trousers as this was indeed far easier to do than it otherwise would've been. She undid the coat with deft fingers and a neutral expression and handed it off to the man without comment. Her chin tipped up in silent defiance at his look of mixed disgust and delight at the sight of her bruised naked body. She heard a hissing sound of disapproval behind her and since Mr'ish tended towards growls, purrs, and mewls she figured that was Atharia. After another moment, a power play again, the man stepped aside again and let them pass.

Mr'ish pressed close to Elonat's side just long enough to squeeze her hand and give her a nod before his guards made him veer down a different corridor. She was momentarily left alone with Atharia and her guards as the Romulan commander and his guards were still close to the door

"I must say I am impressed." Elonat raised a singular eyebrow of question at the ambassador's words and earned another hissing sound. "I've always hated that expression on the Vulcans and it certainly doesn't look any better on your more human-like features."

Elonat chuckled and resumed a more open expression, "What, may I ask, has you impressed?"

"It certainly isn't your physique."

Atharia looked Elonat up and down, her antennae wagging. Elonat chuckled again. She was a little over average height for a human female (due to the Augment DNA). Her mother had had an athletic build suited towards gymnasts, with her father lither like her grandfather, and she'd fallen right in between with her own body type (though the Augment serum didn't rely on body build to manifest itself). Her hair had taken after her grandmother, thick and wavy, but her cheekbones, ears, and eye color were all her grandfather: fully Vulcan. Her eyebrows did not grow upward in the same way of her father and grandfather but there had always been a strange curvature to them that lent to her overall sylphlike look. She'd never been classified as beautiful but always as striking, and sometimes that term had been used in a positive and other times a negative way.

"I've always known humans to fight tooth and nail for everything, being stubborn nearly to an Andorian level." Atharia sniffed. "Yet you acquiesced to his demands without a fight."

"I take it you are not positively impressed then."

Atharia's antennae flicked upwards in a quick dismissive gesture, "That is yet to be determined on whether or not you had a long-term motive for playing the seemingly compliant or if you really are without spine."

Elonat could not comment as the man came to them with the Romulan commander in tow. "Ambassador you will also be sparing a bit of your leisure time to talk to your people right down this corridor." He gestured in the same direction as Mr'ish had disappeared.

Atharia nodded and, without another look at Elonat, swished her robes and herself away down the corridor in between her two much taller guards. Elonat returned her gaze to the man, ignoring the Romulan for the time being. The man turned to the Romulan before he addressed her.

"It seems that there have been power fluctuations in our shield mechanisms that my people attribute to sub-space communication. Both ambassadors have been thoroughly searched and re-searched and neither are the type to risk their lives and their missions to have a hidden communication device still on them. This thing," he pointed to Elonat, "doesn't even know what I'm talking about and as you can clearly see she would have difficulty hiding a receiver." He smirked at her and Elonat had a very human response of rolling her eyes. "So, I will ask one time, where is your communication device?"

The Romulan gave his first hint of an expression, a subtle smirk, "I don't know what you're talking about either." His voice was of a low timbre and Elonat couldn't help but shiver. She'd always had had sensitive senses: scents, sounds, taste, touch. This tall, dark-haired Romulan had just made himself more mysterious and interesting to Elonat and from a mere few words. This did not bode well on the logic front.

"Very well." The man signaled the Romulan's guards at the same time that he turned to give her his attention. "It seems you'll have company for our next round of discussions."

Elonat gritted her teeth against a curse and instead maintained as neutral an expression as the Romulan commander by her side, "Two is always better than one, though I'd hate to invite anyone else to this particular discussion."

The man huffed and flicked his hand, signaling their guards to lead them, side by side, down the corridor and shove them inside a room. As their two guards, and soon to be torturers, set about strapping them into their chairs, the man took to circling them one by one.

"You will tell us where you've hidden your device and where your people are." The man spoke to the Romulan, and was met with silence. He turned his gaze to Elonat. "And you will tell us about your origins and your unique DNA."

Elonat waved her right hand, in an effort to raise it, "Wouldn't it be more logical to have us in separate chambers?" The man glared at her so she continued. "What if this man starts to divulge his information at the same time I do mine and then with us both talking at the same time you have difficulty catching it all?"

"I will not divulge anything. For there is nothing to tell." The Romulan spoke to her for the first time, giving her a side glare since he was unable to turn his head now.

"Apologies." Elonat blinked her eyes at her, her only way of nodding at this moment. "But you understand what I'm trying to say, right?"

The man laid his hands on either side of her and leaned in until their noses nearly touched, "I would rather keep the unclean together than risk infecting any other areas with your filth." He looked down between them, taking in her nudity, and sneered. "The things I'll do to you," his voice sent a chill through her, "it'll be my greatest moment." He stood up straight again and nodded to their guards, leaving only after the "discussion" began.

The discussion ended up having very little talking. Oh, of course they did ask more questions she refused to answer (apparently many of the records that would have told them more detailed information about her aside from the name plate outside her cyrogenic pod had been destroyed in the wars), but aside from that there was no discussion. Every bit of discomfort they exacted to her they did the same to the Romulan, who had been placed in a similarly designed chair to her own. It seemed that Romulans were made of stronger stuff than humans, having that in common with Vulcans, and he managed to hold back many a roar of pain as time ticked past.

Elonat closed her eyes when they increased the dial another notch. They'd superseded all previous sessions now and she felt as if every nerve in her body was vibrating with fire. It was as if they were unmaking her from the inside out. She was gasping at air, unable to keep it in her lungs for long, and she knew she was crying, moaning, and slick with sweat, tears, and maybe even blood. Desperate for a buoy in her pain, she reached into the consciousness of her grandfather and sought solace in his memories. Though she still felt the pain an image of her grandmother, still in her youth, came to mind. She saw her grandmother riding on a horse somewhere nearby the ranch, watching her through the eyes of her grandfather. She momentarily felt the morning breeze on her face and felt the horse's movement between her legs. Elonat, no, not Elonat, but her grandfather sharing the memory, felt contentment in that moment.

This false contentment was shattered when the door hissed open and a panting and panicked looking solider tumbled inside. "We're under attack."


	3. To Trust a Romulan

Elonat kept her eyes open against the pain as she watched the two guards move closer to the open door and their panting comrade.

"They need you to come to the control room to help reinforce our shields." He was speaking to the torturer who'd been working on her chair. The torturer looked ready to argue but the soldier insisted, "He says now. Turn the dial down so it doesn't fry her brain, but come now." The soldier left without waiting to see if her torturer complied.

He bit out a curse, reached down and punched a few buttons on the panel in chair, then hurried out the door. In his haste, and to Elonat's favor, he'd done more than just dial down the electricity. He'd turned it off entirely. Elonat began taking in deep, evening breaths but tried to maintain the facade, at least for now, that she was still being electrocuted. The other torturer had not turned off the Romulan's chair but had remained by the door, re-opened it, and stood halfway in the corridor watching and listening to what sounded like chaos.

Elonat closed her eyes and fell back on the meditative training her grandfather had given her. He'd told her that Vulcans had the ability to slow their hearts and bodily functions to near death levels, lulling their bodies into self-healing "comas" through meditation alone. Her father had always had greater capacity than she for following through with that sort of meditation, probably due to his closer genetic ties to the Vulcan brain makeup than she. But Elonat had the Augment serum in her favor, in addition the presence of both her father and grandfather's consciousness inside her brain. As she breathed deeply, envisioning the healing process at a cellular level as her grandfather had taught her, she could feel her body respond accordingly. She could feel strength returning to her limbs and alert vivacity taking root in her mind.

As she did this she felt her father's consciousness reach forward and share a memory with her. She saw her mother through his eyes, the memory not nearly as sharp as her grandfather's typically were. Her mother lay on a hospital bed in pain, covered in sweat, but she felt as her father felt and he was not afraid. There were other figures in the room as well and they moved about until she heard a distinct cry and looked as her father looked and there she was, her newborn self, being held out to her mother. Her mother smiled as she took Elonat from the doctor and her father stepped forward and placed a hand on her mother's head as well as Elonat's. Elonat sensed the equivalent of joy coming from her father in the memory and she clung to that for energy.

Yelling brought Elonat back into time and place and she opened her eyes just in time to see the singular torturer step fully into the corridor to answer whatever order had been given him, the door whooshing shut behind him and leaving Elonat and the Romulan alone. Elonat closed her eyes again and focused her attention on key areas of her body: her wrists and ankles where they were strapped to the chair with thin bands of metal, the leather-like straps that held her torso against the back of the chair, and the band of metal that curved against her forehead. She tested each area with subtle shifting, finding that the weakest of the restraints were the ones against her torso and the one against her head, the second being those against her ankles, and finally the ones over her wrists. She would thereby break free in that order.

Elonat did not hold a thought in her head that she could not succeed in breaking free, for she knew well enough the power of self-doubt. Instead, she envisioned herself free, visualizing the movements and actions she would have to take in order to be free, and continued her concentrated focus. She felt both her grandfather and her father's consciousness lend their own focus and strength to her as she drew further inward mentally in preparation. Taking another deep breath, Elonat curved her spine and exchaled as much as she could in the chair before thrusting her torso upward and out in one powerful exhale. The restraints bruised and were painful but she felt them loosen. She repeated the gesture, ignoring the cuts they began to leave in her skin, until finally she broke her torso free and the straps fell useless beside her.

The next would be more painful and would take greater effort and concentration. Elonat could not spare thought to the sounds of fighting outside the doors. She could not think of the increased groans of the Romulan in the chair beside her. She couldn't think of the fate of Mr'ish or Atharia. She instead pictured her father, her grandfather, her grandmother. She kept their sacrifices, especially that of her mother, as the anchor of her meditation now. She would not allow human restraints to keep her here. She would survive this and not let the legacy of her family go to waste. Another deep breath, another violent push forward, this time using her torso and neck to press against the head restraint. She couldn't help but yell out in the process, the strain on her muscles and mind great, but she didn't stop. She repeated the movement until eventually the restraint broke and her head was free.

This process continued until she was slumped in the chair fatigued, bloody, bruised, but free of all restraints. The door swished open and the original torturer came back into the room. He blinked at her a moment before he let out a curse and began to draw out his weapon. Elonat couldn't afford to wait to regain any further strength. She pushed herself out of her chair and all but fell upon the man, throwing them both off balance and against the wall behind him. Her grandfather had taught her a special nerve pinch that would incapacitate an enemy while her father had made sure she'd learned at least basic self-defense skills. Elonat ended up taking a few hits to her gut and side before she managed to get behind the torturer and in position to press her fingers against the nerves her grandfather had taught her about. It took a bit longer than she expected but soon enough the man fell to the floor at her feet.

She nearly joined him, her body protesting the beating she'd inflicted upon herself in addition to that which they'd already done to her. Elonat allowed herself but a moment of recovery before she stumbled over to the Romulan's chair. She knew nothing about him and recognized the danger in releasing him, but she couldn't very well leave him like this. She turned off the chair and set about unlocking his restraints. His eyes were closed and his jaw clenched tightly shut when she'd first begun to release him but by the time she undid the last restraint, his eyes were open and his gaze on her. His eyes were chocolate colored, fitting of his olive-toned skin, but they did not hold any semblance of kindness. They were hard, calculating, and Elonat knew immediately she'd just released a predator.

She was about to step away from his chair when his hands shot up from the armrests and latched themselves onto her hips, holding her close. Elonat immediately put her hands against his upper chest. Though his grip was strong and restraining, his expression didn't make her feel like she needed to incapacitate him just yet.

"Why are you helping me?" His voice sounded deeper than before, most likely due to the strain the torture had put him through.

"It is the right thing to do." Another explosion echoed from outside and she again pushed against his chest, "And if I hope to escape from this place alive I will need allies."

The Romulan smirked before releasing her. He was just as stiff and jelly-legged as she'd felt when he first got out of the chair. Once he stood she watched in curiosity as he unfastened his outer garment, a type of uniform coat, and hand it out to her. From what Mr'ish had told her of Romulans, albeit briefly, she wouldn't have expected such a gesture from him. Taking the coat without further question, Elonat left him to arm himself with the weapon the torturer had been about to draw while she opened the door and glanced down the corridor. It would do her no good, trying to use the weapons of this century until she learned their mechanisms. She'd be more likely to harm herself than others if she didn't have proper training.

They were in the clear, for now, and she signaled as such to her Romulan companion. They moved side by side down the abandoned corridor, the sounds of fighting taking place outside the main doors. When they came to the end of the corridor they pressed themselves against the wall, he closer to the edge of it than she, when they heard fast approaching steps. Both ambassadors, in the company of their guards, came into view as if they were being ushered into a more secure area. Neither of them moved until a pair of guards rounded the corner directly into them, most likely having been sent to retrieve them. The Romulan responded first, shooting one of the guards in the head with his weapon before quickly releasing another pulse of weaponized energy into the body of the second guard.

Elonat fell into a crouched position and started rushing forward and to the side when the other guards turned in their direction and began firing. The Romulan did similar, only circling around in the other direction, drawing most of the weapons fire from the guards as he began to fire at them as he ran. Neither Atharia nor Mr'ish were idle during this. Both took advantage of the distraction of their guards to fight against those that remained by their side while Elonat tackled the guard closest to her. In the ensuing struggle her hand came in contact with a weapon she did know how to use, a dagger, and she quickly unsheathed it from the guard's body and slammed the blunt end against his temple, temporarily dazing him, next she squeezed the nerves in his neck and further incapacitated him. When she looked up, she saw Atharia being helped back to her feet by Mr'ish while the Romulan stalked closer. All the guards that had faced them previously were now on the floor, either dead or stunned.

"Do you know what's happening?" Elonat asked as their small group moved towards the main doors.

"I wouldn't venture an Andorian rescue mission." Atharia stated, her antennae waving wildly.

Mr'ish growled, "Caitians could also be responsible." He glanced at Elonat. "Though, with the amount of explosions, I find it more likely that humans are at the forefront of this assault."

The Romulan opened the door and they all stepped to the side until it was fully open and they were satisfied no weapons fire came towards them. Elonat stayed close to Mr'ish's side, asking as they moved outside, "Not that I disagree, but why do you say that?"

"Because only humans would be reckless enough to launch a direct assault against this place without first ensuring the safety of the prisoners." The Andorian's antennae waved again and Elonat began to interpret the gesture as the Andorian equivalent to eye-rolling.

Both Mr'ish and Atharia were equally armed as the Romulan, having taken their weapons from the fallen guards, while Elonat still held only the dagger. They moved as a group further outside the building, the surrounding buildings smoking or completely demolished, the open yard around them strewn with fallen Terra Prime operatives and a few other bodies clothed in a different uniform. Elonat inspected more closely and Mr'ish's assumption was proved correct: they were humans.

"There!" Mr'ish pointed towards the right and, through smoke and dust, Elonat saw a group of humans hurrying towards them. "We should-" His words were interrupted when they were fired upon. Mr'ish grabbed Atharia's arm and jerked her back against the side of the building while both Elonat and the Romulan followed suit.

Elonat scooted closer to Mr'ish and held out her hand, "Show me how to use that thing and I will cover you and Atharia." Mr'ish looked ready to argue but Elonat grabbed the weapon from him. "Remember: you're not expendable but I am."

"That end always points at your enemy," Atharia handed her her weapon as well, that way Elonat could fire with both hands, "that is the trigger, and there will be a few second recharge interval between shots so fire accordingly."

Elonat nodded, "I hope to join you both momentarily."

She didn't wait for any more affectionate farewells from Mr'ish before she turned to look at the Romulan. Their shared glance was enough and after another moment, during which Elonat brought herself and her focus into only her own actions and movements and didn't spare a thought to Mr'ish or Atharia or the other humans, they emerged from the side of the building and began firing at intervals in the direction of their attackers. First the Romulan would fire while she was behind a protective covering then they would advance, reposition, and she would take to the offensive while he recharged. It was during one of her defensive moments that she looked back to see that Mr'ish and Atharia had made it to the humans and were signaling to her to join them as they had begun a retreat through the dust and smoke.

Elonat tapped the Romulan's shoulder and gestured in the direction the others were going, mutely letting him know they could retreat now. The Romulan smirked and shook his head. Elonat frowned. She had no reason to stay with him and his apparent suicidal desire to fight. With one last look at his determined and still smirking face, Elonat stood and let off a few more departing shots at the Terra Prime soldiers still alive and firing at them, before she turned and began to sprint in the direction the others had gone.

She didn't get very far, perhaps a few feet, before a strange humming sounded in her ears and her whole body felt like it was vibrating out of existence. She knew she shouldn't have trusted the Romulan...


	4. Tainted Talking

_See chapter 1. Cheers!_

* * *

Indeed, her body had shimmered out of existence, at least in a fashion. For, when she came back to her senses she nearly ran into a wall, tumbling off what seemed to be a platform, and sprawled on a metal-plated floor. A pair of thick boots came to a stop in her line of vision as she blinked her eyes open. When she raised her head off the floor at the sound of the voice that accompanied them, she saw that an older Romulan was speaking. Looking over her shoulder back to the platform she'd so gracefully run off, she saw the Romulan commander knocking dust off his shoulders as he listened to his colleague speak to him.

"Do they suspect our presence, sub-commander Vraroth?" Her Romulan companion replied in English as he stepped off the platform and stood beside her still sprawled body, addressing the Romulan male who'd greeted them.

Vraroth raised an eyebrow before responding in English as well. "Negative. They appear to still be extracting their people and the ambassadors from the surface." The sub-commander dropped his eyes and stared directly into Elonat's for a moment before he returned his gaze back to his commander. "What would you have us do with this," Vraroth seemed to struggle with appropriate terminology before settling on, "prisoner?"

"Take her to the infirmary. Tell the medical officer to do a thorough screening on her, taking blood and tissue samples. Then place her in my quarters with guards outside." The commander accepted an offered coat from another nearby Romulan soldier. "I will interrogate her later." He left her without backwards glance.

The sub-commander called out over his shoulder while still sneering down at Elonat. A younger male Romulan came to his side, making a type of salute over his chest as he responded to the sub-commander. He relayed the commander's instructions to him before he too left the room. The young male signaled another young female and together they pulled Elonat to her feet and dragged her out of the circular chamber.

The ship seemed to be designed for efficiency and not at all for comfort. The lighting was low and the temperature moderate, as if Romulans preferred low-lighting and temperate climates back on their home world. Elonat didn't bother fighting them or asking questions. She knew they would not hesitate to incapacitate her, and neither would they willingly offer up answers. There was also no point in fighting them as she could not speak or read Romulan and escape now would be close to futile.

The medical officers, when they came to the infirmary, were not pleasant either. They did their duty hurriedly but surprisingly the samples they took from her were relatively painless. After so much pain the past few days, it was a surprisingly welcome change. They also did her a favor and used their technology to heal the cuts and bruises she'd inflicted upon herself in her escape, as well as few lingering ones the Terra Prime bastards had inflicted. They'd spoken to each other as they worked, not bothering to translate as the Romulan commander had done. It was obvious they found her looks and her very existence repulsive and she attributed it to her Vulcan ties more than her human as she had ever feeling that Romulans and humans had thus far had little contact.

When they were finished, Elont did her best to memorize the route they took from the original transportation chamber to the infirmary and from there to the commander's quarters (she felt she had a fairly good grasp of it but would need another field trip to be certain). Without preamble, the door was opened, and she shoved inside. Elonat was tempted to ask them about food prior to the door closing but taking one more look at their closed off expression had her silencing her question and instead resigning herself to hunger and thirst until further notice.

Once left to her own devices, Elonat wasted no time in exploring every inch and cranny of the room. She studied all the technology but sighed when her assumptions proved correct: couldn't read a thing. She also looked at the ceiling and walls to see if there were vent ducts that she could pry open and crawl through, should she need to, but there was nothing. It was a Spartan room, only decorated with medals and minimal mementos that bore no meaning to her in form or function. On her deeper study, she found a way into an adjacent bathroom and once inside she poked around with the technology until she figured out how to activate the "shower." It was a strange, non-water-based cleaning system, but by the time she stepped out of it a few minutes later, she felt refreshed and no longer had any of the grime of the fight on her skin. Upon deeper digging, she found the commander's closet and helped herself to a pair of trousers, her hips being wider than his but her legs marginally shorter made the fit strange, as well as a shirt, his torso being thicker and broader in nature causing the shirt to hang limply around her frame more like a dress than a shirt. In all, she felt much more human now and all that was left to satisfy her immediate needs would be food and water.

She sat on the edge of his bed, still waiting. She didn't know how much time had gone by already, nor how much longer she would have to wait, so she decided on a logical route: sleep. She fluffed up his pillow, drew back the sheets, and shamelessly made herself comfortable. She figured he deserved it for leaving her alone in his quarters after he'd obviously kidnapped her. Elonat laid her head against the pillow and sighed in momentary delight. Though he had the manners of a brute so far, this Romulan commander had a pleasant enough scent and she fell asleep pressing her face closer against his pillow in order to take it in more deeply. For some strange reason it gave her a sense of comfort.

Sometime later, Elonat stretched her arms overhead, momentarily stiffening her muscles before relaxing back against the mattress. She slowly blinked the world into focus and immediately went on alert when she found the commander smirking at her from the edge of the bed. She began to recoil but he restrained both her hands over her head and pressed his torso against hers in one swift motion, both knowing she'd be unable to get her legs free from the tangle they were already in within his sheets.

"I'm not certain if I should be flattered or offended that you found your way into my bed so quickly," his eyes traveled over what he could see of her body, "and that you've stolen my clothing."

Elonat sighed and stopped trying to fight against his hold. She could throw him off her, as his natural Romulan strength didn't seem to match her Augment influenced strength, but if she showed him so quickly just how strong she was he would see her as a greater threat and be less likely to let his guard down. No, she would play helpless a bit longer to see what sort of information she could get from him.

"Certainly, don't be flattered. I was dirty and basically naked, you had clothing. I was tired, you had a bed. If you'd had food, I would've eaten that too, but alas you didn't have any readily available." To punctuate her point, her stomach took that moment to growl at them both. The Romulan's lips twitched as if he were fighting the urge to smile. "Is it your intention to interrogate me through starvation tactics or may I eat while you interrogate me?"

He hesitated just a moment longer before he released her wrists and sat up. He didn't move from the edge of the bed right away and Elonat had to get creative in how to extract herself from the tangle of sheets to sit up against the headboard. He watched her movements with silent amusement and only once he was satisfied with some sort of thought did he stand up and move over to one of the devices she'd studied earlier. He spoke to it and within moments two servings of some sort of food materialized. He gestured for her to join him as he next moved to sit at his desk. Elonat sat in the chair he'd pushed out for her with his boot and accepted the plate of food. She sniffed it and assumed that some of it was plant based and some meat based. She'd never acquired a great affinity for meat, taking after her grandfather in dietary habits, but she'd eat what was offered.

"Don't tell me you're vegetarian too!" The Romulan commander, despite his words, sounded more amused than annoyed. He'd seen her look of resignation since she'd not attempted to hide it. "What other sort of annoying Vulcan habits do you have in spite of your human ties?" He took the plate back from her before she could protest and returned it to the device he'd used earlier. He issued another set of instructions and this time when he shoved the plate back into her hands it was all plant-based.

Elonat shrugged, "I've only ever known my grandfather so I couldn't tell you if my 'Vulcan habits' are unique to him or are common for the whole species."

"Ah," The Romulan smiled, "so it was your grandfather who was the Vulcan." He happily chewed on a bite of food, content to have drawn some information from her.

Elonat rolled her eyes, "Yes, my grandfather. He had a son, my father, and voila, he had me. That is how procreation works, I believe, in all species. Though maybe your species is asexual or hermaphroditic."

She nearly dropped her fork when the Romulan invaded her personal space, his face just a breath away from hers, his chocolate colored eyes bearing strongly against her own confused gaze. He made a show of studying her face in slow detail before flicking his tongue out to wet his lips in a power play. Only once he was satisfied that she understood him did he sit back, a smirk on his lips.

"What was your grandfather's name?" He resumed eating, a feat Elonat had yet to do.

She shook her head to clear it and followed in his motions and resumed eating as well, "Grandfather. And I called my father, father."

"You think you're clever." His smile faded and he lowered his fork back to his plate. "I would really rather gain the information I seek from you in a pleasant fashion and not repeat some of the treatment you have already received back on that moon." He looked almost sincere but Elonat hardened herself against that thought. "It would do you good to tell me what I want to know without me having to pry."

"I don't understand why it is so important for you to know my history and I don't see how it has any bearing on current events." Elonat countered, hiding her burgeoning misgivings behind a forced casual tone. She then narrowed her gaze, "And how exactly did you manage to get me on-board your vessel?"

He smiled, "All Romulan manufactured items are equipped with transmitters regardless of size or function." He nodded towards her clothing and then his own.

"Lesson learned." Elonat shook her head and muttered more to herself than to him. "Never assume a Romulan is being a gentleman when he offers you his coat."

The Romulan studied her for another moment before he shook his head and resumed eating. They ate in silence then, with Elonat finishing first. She leaned back in her chair and watched the Romulan for a few moments longer before she sighed, the noise bringing his attention back to her.

"What is _your_ name?" she asked.

The Romulan laughed, " _You_ won't tell me what I want to know, and you expect me to comply with your questions?"

"I don't expect much more from you other than what you have already proven yourself capable of." She watched his response to her words: a hardening of his expression. "However, if you do resort to physical means of extraction, I would rather know what name I am to scream." Only after she said the words did she realize the double meaning they could hold and it seemed, by the way the Romulan clenched his jaw, he also picked up on the possible sexual undertones. She hadn't meant it that way but now that her mind interpreted that meaning she couldn't quite get it out of her head.

The Romulan leaned forward then, his face resuming the predatory nature he'd had when he'd first come into her personal space, and he near purred out, "You'll be screaming the name Jikain if it comes down to that."

Elonat leaned forward and mimicked his facial expression, "And you'll be screaming Elonat in return should the roles be reversed."

Jikain laughed, the sound quite pleasant despite the situation, and he leaned back in his chair. Eloant mirrored his stance, crossing her arms over her chest and waited for him to either change tactics or continue in the same vein. Jikain continued to chuckle as he took both of their plates back to the device and ordered them away. When he turned to face Elonat, his humor had disappeared again, and a neutral expression was left behind. Though given to emotions more than Vulcans, it seemed their emotions swung through them faster than even humans.

"Elonat," she liked the way he said her name and that was not at all good, "my government would very much like your aid in their efforts to fight against a growing threat."

"I don't see how my measly existence could be of any use to any government," she sighed, "except as a symbol of something that I get the feeling I will not at all like."

Jikain returned to his seat, "Romulus, for the moment, is free of any influence on its borders or space. However, if this new Federation of Planets charter is approved then we will most assuredly be invaded by any number of our old rivals, namely the Andorians and Vulcans, though your humans are starting to show themselves as a possible threat as well."

"I'm not sure how your telling me this would win me over to your cause."

"If you help us you could prevent death, Elonat. Surely you understand the desire a government, a people, will have to exist without risk of invasion, and that they will pursue any means necessary to ensure their own sovereignty." He leaned forward again. "My government will use you with or without your compliance, Elonat. It would be in your favor if you complied."

Elonat shook her head, "I will not comply with any government that would seek to do harm to Earth, humans, or any others who are innocents in this geopolitical struggle I know next to nothing about."

"Tell me how they created you, Elonat, tell me at least that much."

"What?" Elonat raised an eyebrow. "I told you, my grandfather was fully Vulcan, he met and married my human grandmother, they had a son, my father, who as a half-Vulcan met and married a fully human female, my mother, and then I came along. I was not created in some laboratory. I came to be au natural."

Jikain frowned, "Then how do you explain the additional DNA in your system?" Damn those medical officers. "I may have been partially out of my senses back on the colony, but I saw you break free of your restraints when I was incapable of doing so. Even just before, when I held you in the bed, I know you had the strength to break free and do me great damage before my guards could come in to my aid. Yet you held back, most likely hoping that I would be unaware of this truth." He smiled when his answer was found in her frown. "Did they experiment on you as a baby back on Vulcan or on Earth?"

"I told you before I've only known one Vulcan and that was my grandfather." Elonat sighed and unfolded her arms. "I was experimented on but not with the permission of any of my family. I was kidnapped soon after I was born, on Earth, and I was given various serums that changed my genetic makeup. Don't bother asking me if I know what was in the serums or if they still exist, might I remind you I was a baby at the time. My mother was killed in the effort to rescue me from my kidnappers and neither my father nor my grandfather ever knew the contents of the serums as those who did the experimenting either escaped or were killed in the Eugenics Wars."

She dropped her head into her hand and drew her lips inward. She'd said too much and cursed. He had to have put something in her food, that was why she felt so inclined to tell him what he wanted to know. Damn, damn, damn. Jikain's hand cupped her chin and lifted her head until they made eye contact again. His expression held doubt.

"The Eugenics Wars? I have a vague notion of this part of Earth's history." He took in her appearance again. "But how could YOU be remnant of that? That happened centuries ago according to our records of Earth's history." Elonat fought against her desire to talk, even going so far as to place her hand over her mouth, but Jikain smirked as he pulled her hand away and tugged her closer, repeating his question. "How are you connected to the Eugenics Wars, Elonat?"

"Terra Prime found a hidden chamber on Earth which held me and a dozen other humans who'd been cryogenically frozen in the early years of World War 3." Elonat began to pull away, getting angry with herself and Jikain. "I don't know how I ended up here. I was awakened on that moon and have met no one other than the ambassadors and yourself." Elonat jerked her hand out of his grasp and felt her control over her anger slipping. "You bastard." Jikain's facial expression began to harden. "You put something in my food, didn't you?"

He smirked, "I told you I would rather retrieve information from you in a pleasant fashion. My superiors would not be so inclined." He stood to face Elonat when she rose from her chair. She watched his body tense as if readying himself for a fight.

"Is that where you're taking me?" Her voice was changing due to her rising anger, dipping lower in tone, and she felt her heartrate increase. "You spare me the pain now so you can get off feeling better about yourself only to hand me over to individuals who wouldn't have to deal with the guilt?" She scoffed at him. "That is the repayment I get for saving you?"

"I never asked you to save me." He countered. "Besides, I didn't need your help. My ship has been in orbit for days. We were waiting for the humans to do something stupid, which they did, before we moved." His lips twisted into a deeper smirk. "You just allowed your naïve humanity to override what little sense your Vulcan blood might have given you when you thought it noble to release me. It wasn't noble, it was idiotic."

Elonat struck him without questioning the merits of engaging in a fight with him. Her fist connected with his cheek moments before her other fist slammed directly into his chest. He was sent backwards against the corner of his desk and though taken by surprise at her sudden aggression, Jikain was not stunned for too long. He pulled her into his chest and to the ground with him as he fell forward, attempting to wrestle her beneath him so he could find a way to subdue her. She wasn't about to relent and instead she broke his hold on her shoulders and rolled away.

She had nowhere to escape and in truth this wasn't about escaping. This was about establishing dominance, about showing him that she was not going to let him control her anymore. He was getting to his hands and knees to crawl after her when she abruptly twisted over him and landed on his back, wrapping her arms and legs around him much like an octopus. She knew she could administer the nerve pinch, that that would be the logical thing to do, but she didn't want to. She wanted to fight him. She needed to fight him. He reared up and fell onto his back as hard as he could, trying to knock the breath out of her and very nearly succeeding. He was about to do it again when Elonat dipped her head down and latched her teeth firmly against his neck at the junction where his neck connected to his shoulder.

If she'd been biting skin, she would've drawn blood, but he was protected by not only his uniform coat but also his undershirt. Her gesture had him faltering in his movements and she used that opening to unhook one of her legs from around his waist to push against the floor beneath her, flipping them back over until his face was pressed against the floor and she was astride his back. She let go of his neck and grabbed hold of his wrists, slamming his arms onto the ground beside his face while she maneuvered her legs until they were outside his, holding his legs tightly together so he couldn't bring them upwards into a kneeling position.

She leaned her face close until as she spoke her lips brushed against the tip of his ear, and if his ears were anywhere as sensitive as her own, she knew that he would not be unaffected by this. "I will never submit to mind games and power plays of any race." Jikain was beginning to recover from his momentary stunning at the abrupt role reversal and she knew she had only a moment or two more before he would launch another attack against her. "And I will not betray my honor for any government, which is more than I can say for you."

He let out a growl before he jerked his head backwards, his skull connecting with her face and throwing off her concentration with the sudden pain. He took advantage of that, much as she had against him, and managed to struggle out from her hold on his wrists. He reached behind him with one of his arms and dislodged her from his back, tossing her to the ground beside him. Elonat recovered and fought back, continuing her roll away from him until her body came against the bottom of his bed. He was on his feet now and defended against her kicks and jabs as he came closer, his face twisted into a mirrored need to dominate and win.

A crazy thought came to Elonat's mind then and without giving thought to the logic of it, she followed through with it. She feigned fatigue in order to lure him closer and then she launched herself at him again. He deflected her frontal attack and twisted her in his arms until he was against her back, his arms around her torso holding her arms against her body. He was taller than her and so had little difficulty lifting her up off the ground just enough to keep her from finding a strong enough foothold to counterattack him. He thought he had her where he wanted her, but no, he'd played exactly into where she wanted him. Lifted as she was against his chest, his face was pressed close to hers, his heavy pants mirroring her own in her ears. She turned her head and he, most likely thinking she was going to try to bite him again, drew his face apart from hers but again that was what she wanted.

This time she did not bite. Instead, without warning, she violently surged forward and slammed her lips against his. It was her first kiss and she knew logically speaking kisses were not usually traded in this fashion, but it was the only way she could think of to distract him. Her eyes were open and so she watched his eyes widen in surprise, his grip on her body loosening just marginally. Elonat broke free of his hold, twisted to face him, and using both palms, slapped his chest hard enough to make him fall backwards onto his rear on the floor at her feet. They were both flushed and panting, both sweaty, but Elonat was the one still standing. She put her hands on her hips and gave Jikain the closest thing to a Romulan smirk she could manage. She didn't need to say anything to convey to him her superiority in this moment.

His response was equally unexpected, however, and instead of him relaunching a violent attack against her as she fully expected him to, he stood slowly, keeping his gaze determinedly on her face. While she waited for whatever it was he meant to do, she assessed herself and her ability to fight more. Her earlier bloodlust had abated now that she'd won, and she could think more clearly, though her heartrate and adrenaline were both still elevated. She was now aware enough of herself and their surroundings to take note of the fact that the shirt she was wearing had torn and hung over her shoulder, exposing one breast to his perusal and his own clothing had been pulled and torn so that now his uniform coat hung open and revealed a stretched undershirt that clung to his muscles. She felt a different kind of lust begin to overtake her body then and something in the room shifted, a quality in the air that she was certain he was aware of as well.

He moved forward, Elonat letting him and refusing to back away, until they stood basically toe-to-toe. Jikain continued his silent study of her face and she his. Still not reaching for her or verbally reprimanding her, Jikain removed his own jacket and tossed it to the side. Elonat felt her stomach flip and clenched her hands into fists against the urge to do something, though she didn't know what, as she watched him reach for the hem of his undershirt and pull it quickly over his head, it too joining his coat on the floor off to the side.

Her mouth watered at the sight of his bare chest, muscular as she'd assumed it would be, but she still held herself still. She'd never been this close to a semi-nude man with this sort of feeling in her gut before. She'd been in truth with Mr'ish when she'd told him she'd never had a romantic encounter. She knew how to have sex, knew what came of sex, knew that both pleasure and some pain was involved in the initial coupling but aside from her own experimental touches growing up she'd had no experience. And now here she stood, barely clad and panting in front of an alien whom she knew felt nothing for her aside from a similar lust. She could say something right now to stop whatever it was they were edging into; she could strike at him and he'd retreat into his earlier stance as her enemy. But it seemed that now, as they stood facing one another in this fashion, that a sort of vulnerability had come over him and he stood waiting to see if she would mirror it.

Elonat inhaled through her nosed and felt another wave of lust pool low in her belly. She could smell him on her skin from their earlier scuffle. Logic had nothing to do with her next movement. If all that awaited her at the other end of this journey was more pain, and even betrayal from the man standing in front of her, then she wanted to take charge of this moment. Swallowing any protest her mind might have offered, Elonat moved her hands to the hem of her own shirt.


	5. A Bold Offer

_Refer to chapter 1 disclaimer. Rating for sexuality. Cheers!_

* * *

A chirping noise interrupted her movements, effectively breaking the spell in the room. Jikain gave one more lingering look at Elonat before he jerked his head in the direction of his bathroom. Not that she'd be able to understand a word that they were saying, she could understand his desire for a kind of privacy. Especially if he felt as drawn her to her as she felt to him; her absence would be a necessity if he was about to have a sane conversation.

Elonat grabbed his discarded jacket, figuring it would be the easiest thing to replace the torn shirt she now wore, and disappeared into his bathroom. She didn't bother locking it, since she didn't know how, and instead kept as silent as possible as she went about tidying up her disheveled hair and staring long and hard at herself in the mirror. What had she just been about to do? And with an alien without any qualms at the idea of using her for his own whims? When she closed her eyes and "tapped" at her grandfather's and father's consciousnesses, neither of them seemed inclined to let her in or to comment on the situation. Not that she blamed them. It was already odd enough having them in her head, to have them in her head when she very nearly had her first sexual encounter made it that much more strange.

Elonat sighed and sat down on the toilet aperture that was adjacent to the shower stall. Jikain did have a point though. If she were in his shoes she probably would've done exactly as he'd already done. Nothing had been committed against her that was not the norm during a time of proxy or real war. He was not a monster. At least, hadn't proven to be one yet. He'd thus far exhibited many of the qualities she'd admired in her father and grandfather—or it could just be his similarity in looks that made her feel more at home with him than she had with all of her peers growing up.

She waited until the voices on the other side of the door ceased before she brushed her hands through her hair one more time and stood. She would face down whatever he had to throw at her and without judgment too. She wanted to survive this new world and time, make it so the sacrifices of her family were for something. That was the logical AND the right thing to do. If that meant complying, for a time, with the Romulans so long as her compliance did not directly lead to the harm of Earth or those she now considered friends then so be it.

Jikain was still sitting at the desk when she emerged from the bathroom. He'd put on his discarded undershirt and had apparently smoothed down his own hair prior to taking the "call." He didn't look over to her at her approach and instead continued to stare at the blank screen on the desk in front of him. Elonat stopped at his side and studied him. He had the body language of a man deep in thought, almost as if he was unaware of her presence just yet. When her eyes fell upon his neck, not quite so covered up without his jacket, she shivered, for she could see, forming as a greenish mark, the bruise her earlier bite had rendered him. She felt strange pleasure at the sight of it on his skin, as if she'd won another round of fighting but without having to fight.

Without pausing to think of the ramifications of her movements, Elonat lightly traced a finger over the mark and watched in fascination as Jikain's whole body first tensed then shivered. She was prevented from repeating the gesture when his hand grabbed her wrist and jerked her forward. He tugged again and she complied with his nonverbal wish as she turned until she was leaning against the desk facing him while he remained in his chair. He let go of her wrist as soon as she was settled into his line of sight, his hands returning to clench together on the desk. Elonat loosely crossed her arms over her chest and waited. She figured he'd get back to ordering her around soon enough.

"We are to rendezvous with Admiral Valdore's vessel within two days' time." The name and the distance they'd travel meant nothing to Elonat. She had not a clue how far away she was from Earth and hadn't seen a map either. "You will then be transferred over to his command and will be made to comply with the wishes of the Romulan government."

Elonat nodded, "I see."

Jikain finally made eye contact with her and appeared surprised, "That is all you have to say?"

"What else can I say? I have no power here. Yes, of course I can overpower you in a fight and maybe a few others if need be but what good would that do me? I can't read your language, I don't know how to operate your technology, and I've not a clue where I am in this universe." Elonat shrugged. "My best chance of survival, as you so plainly put it earlier, is to comply with the Romulan government."

Jikain looked doubtful, "Your change of heart seems sudden."

"It could be," Elonat sighed, "but I have resolved to not let the sacrifices of my family go to waste. If I get myself killed in the name of honor then they will have died in vain. If, however, I can survive on my terms, though it may not be in the fashion either my father or grandfather would have preferred for me, then I will do that."

"Your terms?" Jikain's lips quirked upward into an unamused smirk. "You will not be able to set such terms with the Romulan government."

Elonat smiled in return, "I will comply with your government so long as my actions do not bring about direct harm to Earth or those I would consider Earth's allies, which I know to be Caitians, Andorians, and Vulcans." Jikain broke eye contact and Elonat shook her head. "Unless I can have those guarantees, then I will do as the ancient Earth Japanese warriors did."

"I do not know these warriors."

"Then it would be beholding of you to find out what it was they had a habit of doing when forced into a difficult situation." Elonat mirrored his earlier unamused smirk. "I have nothing to lose and everything to gain, Jikain. I am expendable and do not value my life higher than the alliances my home planet now seeks to create. While Earth may have changed in the centuries I've been in cryogenic sleep, I'm certain that some qualities of humanity that I hold dear have not changed so drastically. Those being integrity, curiosity, tenacity, adaptability, and hope." Jikain snorted and shook his head at her words but she continued. "I really don't believe that Earth would happily waltz into a fight with the Romulans. And the picture you painted for me earlier reminds me of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. Nothing good came from their paranoia and nothing good will come from the paranoia that is so rampant now."

Jikain narrowed his gaze, "You truly believe your words, don't you?"

"As truly as you believe yours when you say that your government will do anything necessary to ensure their survival and not only that but also their superiority in their sector of space."

Jikain fell silent and returned his gaze to the blank screen in front of him while Elonat returned her gaze to his neck and the mark she'd left there. If he was to hand her over in two days' time then what was she to do in the meantime? Was he going to toss her into a holding cell and keep her fed enough and comfortable enough to survive before he could wash his hands of her? He had every right to do so and she could not, and would not, hold a grudge against him for that.

"Jikain," he grunted to let her know he'd heard her but didn't look up, "I would ask that for once you be honest with me." He finally looked at her, more in curiosity than in trepidation. "I would like to mentally prepare myself for what is to come, so I can still thrive despite the situation."

He sighed, "You want to know if they'll torture you like Terra Prime?" Elonat nodded. She wasn't afraid of the coming pain, she just wanted to know if it was to come. "Romulan methods are more sophisticated and thorough, but yes, still painful and I believe humans would classify the techniques as torture." He shifted in his seat to face her more fully, pushing back away from the desk a bit to give her his attention with face and body. "What else would you like to know the truth about?"

Elonat swallowed a bit of her pride before she spoke up again, "Did you feel the desire to lie with me before you received that call?"

He seemed surprised by her question but only hesitated a moment before he replied, "Yes."

"Oh." Elonat broke eye contact and rubbed one hand along the back of her neck.

"I don't see the correlation between your questions, Elonat." Jikain sounded amused and she looked back to see a Romulan smile fighting for dominance at the edges of his lips.

"What do you intend to do with me for the next two days before we rendezvous with your admiral?" Having her "logiced" her way into a course of action that was foolhardy and stupid, Elonat's question stumbled out before she could weigh its pros and cons. For the first time since this all began, the consciousness of her father reared up in chastisement. Elonat shook her head as if to push it back again. She had free will here.

Jikain's eyes widened, "Are you propositioning to lie with me for the next two days?" He leaned his head back and let out a single hoot of laughter. "Elonat, lying with you will not change my mind. I will not betray my government for the chance to copulate with a Vulcan-human hybrid." His expression turned to one of leering assessment. "You are not considered beautiful by Romulan standards nor by Vulcans, and from the treatment Terra Prime gave you it seems that even humans find you repulsive."

Elonat pulled her hand back as if to slap him and, from the way he stood and reached for her, it seemed he'd expected her too. Only, Elonat stopped, clenched her fist, and lowered it as she took a steadying breath. Jikain raised his eyebrows at her restraint and used the moment to edge forward, pinning her between the warmth of his body and the coolness of the desk behind her. With the height difference, her rear was already almost sitting on the edge of the desk, especially with him leaning against her. He didn't reach for her and she didn't move to push him away. They stood nose-to-nose and neither one intended to be the first to blink.

"You are not the first to say such things," Elonat spoke with an even tone, "and I doubt you will be the last." Jikain continued to observe her with an equally assessing eye as she spoke. "Only, you must have low standards, since you admitted to wanting to lie with me in spite of my repulsive nature."

Jikain snorted and shook his head, staring over her shoulder a moment, before he returned his gaze to hers. He leaned closer, still not reaching for her but making it feel as if she were already wrapped in his arms due to the scale of his presence around her, "Call me an opportunist," he whispered to her, his lips close enough to the skin on her cheek when he closed the distance, so that when he talked she felt their softness brush against her, "as I believe you were earlier."

Then, before she could comprehend how things had shifted, she received her second kiss. It wasn't violent like the earlier one, though just as aggressive. His eyes met hers as he closed the distance between them, slanting his mouth over hers so he could take full possession. It seemed that the moment his tongue passed between her lips, tasting her in ways she'd come to believe no one ever would, Elonat forgot how to use her body properly. Her limbs went slack and she felt weak and jellied, her entire focus homing in on how soft his lips were against hers, how he tasted a bit like the spicy plant they'd eaten earlier mixed with something that was uniquely him, and how his tongue rubbed against hers: in and out of her mouth in a blatantly sexual manner. Her eyes drifted shut against her will.

Jikain pulled away, she had no understanding of how long after the initial kiss he did this, and it took Elonat a moment to recover her senses enough to realize her eyes were still closed and mouth still partially open. She snapped her mouth shut, swallowed, and opened her eyes. He was staring at her with a strange expression on his face and as he continued to stare at her, Elonat realized he'd placed his hands on either side of her face at some point in time and she'd pulled her hands together into a prayerful clench in front of her body. She blushed and tried to avert her gaze but was stopped when Jikain's hand on her cheek turned her face back towards him.

"Elonat," his voice was roughened and Elonat surmised it to be from arousal, "have you done this before?" She pulled her face out of his touch and sighed. "Why..." he shook his head, his confusion overriding his desire.

"You told me yourself that the techniques your government will use will be painful," she brought her gaze back to his, "I never thought that I was so desirable and alluring that by copulating with me you'd have a change of heart and betray your people. I'm not an idiot." She forced a smile but let it fall when she saw he was far from amused. "In any case, I figured that if that is all I have to look forward to in the coming days, months, or years of imprisonment, that I would at least like to experience a few moments of pleasure beforehand."

Jikain shifted his weight and it seemed that he was about to pull away. Elonat quickly brought her hands up to cup his face while at the same time she attached her legs, albeit loosely, around his waist. Her grandfather had taught her father and herself about melding and over the years they'd each melded with her for training purposes or healing-when she'd first gone through the heat of female Pon Farr, a surprise to both her grandfather and her father, it'd come in handy to keep her sane-but she'd never been as good with it as either of them. She could press her emotions and images through the meld points but not complete thoughts and conversations like they could. She wouldn't force her emotions into Jikain though, however tempting it would be, but she did open herself through the meld points, so he could feel her earnestness.

"Japanese warriors, when pressed into a difficult situation, committed ritual suicide." Jikain's eyes widened but Elonat continued to speak. "I have every intention of living and dying on my own terms, Jikain, no matter what your government intends for me." She smoothed her fingers over the planes of his face and smiled at his confusion. "You can tell your superiors that if you wish but I wanted you to know that just as I am intentional about how I will live and die from this day forward, I would also like to be intentional about how and when and with whom I take my pleasure." She felt the blush return and some of her bravado faltered. "You were right what you said earlier, when you said no one had found me attractive enough to pursue. Humans have always found my Vulcan traits too strange and my Augment strength too intimidating. So no," she smiled on a sigh, "I've never done this before. And, believe it or not, I would like to do this with you."

Jikain frowned, "Why me?"

"Well, you called me an opportunist earlier." She smiled at his Romulan equivalent of an eyeroll. "But also, there was something about you that I noticed back on that moon, something that drew me to you. I'm not sure what it was or what it means, but I would rather share something like this with a man I find attractive, a man I can respect, and whom I trust will not harm me in the process of going through with this."

"You respect me?" he sounded, if possible, even more confused. "I am about to hand you over to my government for certain torture and perhaps eventual death." He pulled himself out of her touch and stepped away, shaking his head. "You cannot be thinking clearly as there is nothing about me that you should trust."

Elonat remained where she was and smiled in the face of his chastisement, "The very fact that you're saying that proves your argument unsound."

Jikain opened and closed his mouth as if searching for more words while Elonat took advantage of his momentary confusion. She undid his jacket and slid it off her shoulders. She wasn't experienced enough in these matters to attempt sexy, instead she was going for efficient and effective. Jikain swallowed and she saw his jaw clench when her naked torso was revealed to. Next, she undid the trousers she'd stolen from him and without preamble she pushed them over her hips, having to give a little wiggle to dislodge them since her hips were wider than his, before she pushed down over her legs and slid them off her feet. She now stood naked, once more, before him. This time was different though. This time she was offering herself to him, not quite gift wrapped but just about, and it was very much up to him if he was going to accept what she was offering.


	6. Sensual Routines

_See chapter 1 disclaimer. Rating for sexuality. Cheers!_

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Jikain stared at her for but a moment longer, his face neutral of expression save for his eyes—which seemed to burn brightly with rapid thought—before he held out his hand towards her. Elonat took it and allowed him to pull her closer. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and tucked the other behind her knees, lifting her up against his chest. He turned around and, after kneeling on the edge of the bed, placed her in the middle of it. She fought against the urge to cover herself, as Jikain had already seen her naked and was now, she assumed, was about to follow through with her proposition. Instead, Elonat lightly gripped the sheets of the bed on either side of her body and watched, wide-eyed, as Jikain slowly, and with deliberate eye-contact, shed his own clothing until he stood beside the bed as naked as she.

"I will endeavor to only do what you want," he didn't move to join her just yet, "that is not the Romulan way so there may be times I grow rough and you will have to remind me, be it verbally or physically, that this is for your pleasure and not my own."

Elonat frowned, "I can tell you right now that I don't want to proceed if this is something you do because you pity me." She began to sit up. "I want to SHARE something not take something." Jikain finally moved, to sit on the bed beside her, but still did not reach for her. "Yes, orchestrate it on my terms, but this isn't just—"

His lips were softer this time and Jikain did not kiss her as a man might if he'd felt pressured to do so, or at least Elonat hoped this was the case. He did not stop with one kiss either. Jikain placed an openmouthed kiss in the sensitive area between her collarbone and the base of her throat. His teeth closed gently on her skin, his tongue lingered, sending chills up her spine. Then, nudging her lips apart with his thumb, he opened her mouth and brushed his lips back and forth over hers. Soon, under the ministrations of his unhurried yet thorough kisses, Elonat found herself lying on her back again, his hands cupping her face with his body stretched out beside her. She'd brought her hands up to hold onto the back of his neck, her fingers tracing into his hair, as his kisses grew deeper, stronger, and his hands began to roam over her body.

"Tell me what you like," he whispered into her ear after he'd licked the edge of it and eliciting another moan from her chest, "tell me what you want more of, and where."

He closed his hands on her waist, then slid them intimately upward as he deepened the kiss, lingering over each curve. When he flattened his palms roughly over her breasts. She arched her back, rubbing herself against his palms. He kissed her again as he brushed her nipples with his thumbs and his tongue glided deeper. Jikain continued to palm her breasts, lifting and squeezing, and with a husky groan he buried his face in her breasts, rubbing back and forth before drawing a nipple deep into his mouth. Elonat panted softly when he scattered kisses over her breasts. She twisted and turned in his arms, wanting his mouth there…and there…and there, telling him with her body just how and where she needed him.

Elonat pressed her palms against his muscular back and sighed with pleasure. She couldn't get enough of touching him. She began by tracing her hands up over his shoulders, down his arms, skimming to his muscular hips. His skin was velvet over steel.

Jikain's touch coaxed soft little mewling noises from her throat. Elonat curled herself around him, trying to get as close as possible. She threaded her fingers into his silky hair, pulled his face back towards her own, and suckled his tongue, desperate for more of him. He made a satisfied male sound deep in his throat, clamped her head between his hands, and kissed her so hard he drew her breath into his body. His tongue glided into her mouth, withdrew, and returned.

Melting back against the sheets, she moaned when his muscular thigh slid between her legs. Pulling away from her kiss, Jikain traced hot, wet kisses down her neck, over her collarbones, across her shoulders. He trailed kisses over her ribs, down her abdomen, then glided his tongue across her belly. Whilst his mouth was engaged, Jikain's hands glided up her thighs. Her knees trembled and she clutched at his shoulders. He ran his hand up the inside of her thighs, across her wet core, then down the other leg. Once, twice, and a half dozen times lingering between her thighs, flicking her clitoris, until she was arching her hips up.

Then, suddenly, he dragged his tongue across her in the manner his fingers had been and Elonat cried out. She felt his hand slide down from where it'd been cupping a breast and instead smooth up and down the inside of her thigh. She was still gasping in breath when she felt him insert a single finger. It brought little discomfort, as she'd explored her own body some times before during Pon Farr, and sensing this, Jikain began to stroke her slowly and deliberately with two fingers while he continued to lavish kisses in her most intimate place.

"I want," Elonat tugged at his hair, "you. Now."

Jikain smiled up at her, the view branding itself into her memory, as he slowly crawled up her body, placing strategic kisses hither and thither on his journey. When he kissed her she could taste herself on his lips, a musky bittersweet taste, and instead of it repulsing her she found the combination of tasting him and herself heady.

With a subtle turn of their bodies, he shifted his erection into the vee of her thighs and thrust his hips with the same insistent rhythm as he thrust his tongue into her mouth. When he cupped her bottom and lifted her against him, she wrapped her legs around his waist, and kissed him frantically. JIkain kissed her deeply, plundering her mouth. She arched her back, rubbing her breasts against him. She squirmed, wanting him inside her right now, but he seemed content, for the moment, to maintain the status quo of positions.

"Do you want me still?" Shifting himself between her thighs, he spoke with a sex-roughened voice, "Like this?" He rubbed himself against her wetness.

Elonat wrapped her legs around his, rubbing against him wantonly in answer. Jikain rained kisses up the gentle swell of her stomach, over her breasts, and dragged the edge of his teeth back and forth across her nipples. Positioning himself between her legs, he did not take her immediately but kissed her thoroughly, a kiss of demand and dominion, of raw possession.

Then he slid into her, inch by inch, her body straining from such sweet torture. It hurt to be stretched by more than his fingers and she would be sore for some time, especially if they continued this course of action for the next few days as she'd originally propositioned. But it would be worth it. Slipping her legs over his shoulders, he angled himself to drive back into her and she felt him deep inside her with every thrust. He took the move achingly slow, until it was as if she no longer knew where he began and she ended.

Elonat cried out, tossing her head from side to side, as sensations began to build. He suckled her nipples as he withdrew and returned, and when she felt herself contract around him, he clamped his teeth lightly on a nipple and tugged. He then drove himself into her hard and fast and deep, over and over. He'd warned her that he might grow rougher but, other than the twinges of pain she felt on a thrust here and there, Elonat found that she responded to his movements of possession in much the same way. She clung to his body as if it belonged to her, kissing him with as much passion and strength as he did her.

"Elonat," he pulled his face away from their shared kiss just far enough to look into her eyes. Their breaths panted in rhythm as their bodies moved as one. When he moved again, thrusting into her yielding warmth, she arched back to meet him. It was a move of raw need and melding. As if they could somehow crawl inside each other if they got close enough.

On a quivering breath, Elonat threw herself into the blinding light of orgasm and felt herself filled with jetting warmth as Jikain spasmed his own orgasm deep inside her. Instead of withdrawing immediately, or even allowing him to, Elonat wrapped her legs more firmly around his waist and kept him securely anchored deep inside her. He collapsed atop her body but he wasn't too heavy for her. It was instead a comforting feeling to have his weight on her as he remained buried inside. Elonat closed her eyes and focused on all her senses, doing everything possible to seal this into her long-term memory so days, weeks, months, or years from now should she want to relieve it in all its entirety she could do so.

Jikain lifted his head off her chest then and looked at her with yet another probing but guarded stare. Elonat smiled in the face of his uncertainty and traced her fingertips across the bridges of his wrinkled forehead and down the side of his face. He seemed to enjoy the touch as his head ever so subtly leaned towards her fingers. His eyes lids wavered, as if they were growing heavy with fatigue, and Elonat felt her own body melt further.

Jikain pulled himself off her though, instead of giving into the lull of relaxation, and reached a hand out for her to take. She placed her hand in his and allowed him to guide her to the bathroom where he cleaned them both up before returning to the bed. He made them both some tea and after drinking together, sitting close together on the bed with their back's against the wall, Jikain made love to her again. And thus became their routine for the following day and a half Such routine it became, that Elonat knew when the time came for Jikain to hand her over to his superior, that they would both yearn for each other in a way they hadn't expected to.


	7. Romulan Playlist

Elonat woke before Jikain on the appointed day of transfer and sat quietly on the side of the bed listening to him breathe as she gathered her thoughts. He'd told her the night before that they would not be in position to rendezvous with the admiral's ship until late in the afternoon. But that didn't mean either of them could laze away through the morning hours. As it was, during the past day and a half Jikain had come and gone from his quarters quite frequently to fulfill his captainly duties and had only returned to share meals and his bed.

Elonat would not go so far as to say they'd become lifelong friends in this process of physical intimacy, but a connection had been forged nonetheless, and she knew without asking (not that he'd admit to it anyway) that he was not relishing the idea of handing her over to his superiors. That they would ever meet again was not likely as they both knew either his government or her own hands would end her life before too long.

"How long are you going to sit there and brood in silence?" his voice interrupted her thoughts and she smiled over her shoulder at him.

"Not nearly as long as you tend to do." She laid back down beside him and reach out to run her fingers along the ridges of his forehead and down his cheeks as had become her custom in the time they'd shared. The action seemed to please him as he always closed his eyes and took a deep breath as she did it. "Will I remain in your quarters until the time of transfer or would you rather I be moved to the brig?"

Jikain's eyes opened and he stared at the ceiling. His arm had come back around her shoulders and cemented her against his side. He didn't speak right away and Elonat didn't press. She knew this wasn't easy for him and she'd gone and made it more difficult for them both by proposing and following through with their physical liaison.

"I will need to see to a few things before you are moved but your suggestion is agreeable and would further curtail rumors the admiralty might have."

Elonat traced figures on his chest with her fingertips, "You don't think your crew will tell them?"

"My crew is loyal to me so long as I remain loyal to the Empire. They have served with me a long time and while they respect and honor the admiralty, they will not offer up any information they do not have solid evidence for unless they want to be eliminated either by myself or by the admiralty." Jikain squeezed Elonat briefly then sat up and began to move towards the bathroom. "They admire ambition; mutiny and betrayal for the sake of moving up in the ranks is almost encouraged, but only with solid evidence. Since we have not allowed anyone in here since you arrived and my quarters are soundproof, they would only have suspicion without evidence and that would only condemn themselves if they tried to move forward with that alone." Jikain beckoned to Elonat. "Come, you need to clean yourself of my scent."

Elonat raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?" She stood up and came towards him despite the oddity of his comment. "What if I like your scent on my skin?"

Jikain smiled, rubbing his palms up and down her arms before pulling her into a warm embrace, "I too like smelling you on myself, however, we cannot take such risks. There some who pick up on such things and you are about to walk into the hands of those who would be more likely to detect it." As he pulled away, so too did his smile fall away. "I will cleanse myself first and then you may make use of the shower. I will leave clothing for you to wear on the bed and you will await me here until I come fetch you again."

Elonat nodded. While he showered, she stripped the bed and piled the bedding on the floor, uncertain of where to put it or where to get new ones. When he came out and saw what she'd done he'd nodded at her actions. On her way past him to the shower, he reached out and ran two fingers along the back of her hand and up her forearm. It'd been a simple gesture, but it'd left her shivering. From the smirk on his face when she'd glanced back at him, it seemed he'd known it too.

When Elonat emerged from the shower not too long after, the room was empty, the bed made with new linens, and a simple pair of black trousers and red tunic with a black belt lay on the bed awaiting her. Shoes would be another matter, as Jikain's feet were a much different size than her own. But at least he'd left her thick socks to put on along with the trousers. As she dressed, Elonat remembered what Jikain had said about all Romulan made items having tracking devices in them. She smiled. At least he would know where she was, if he wanted to find out that is.

Once dressed and with nothing else to do, Elonat sat at Jikain's desk drumming her fingers against the metal while she waited. The consciousness of both her grandfather and her father seemed to be subdued, probably in a state of shock and perhaps disgust at her behavior with Jikain. She sighed and closed her eyes. She had not a clue what in the hell she was supposed to do next.

The ship lurched and without warning Elonat fell to the floor. She groped her way to the wall and pulled herself up as the ship continued to vibrate and shake as if it were being shook in the hands of an angry toddler. There were no windows in Jikain's quarters out of which she could see what was going on and as he'd mentioned earlier his quarters were soundproof so other than a very distant hum and occasional pop, Elonat couldn't hear a thing outside the doors.

Another violent lurch had her toppling forward against the doors and a moment later they opened, dumping her into the arms of Jikain. The corridor was filled with smoke and a blaring alarm echoed off the metallic interior. A blinking red light and a repeated Romulan phrase had crew members running helter skelter around them. Jikain twisted one of her arms around behind her back and shoved her in front of him as they began to walk in a direction crew members were mostly running from and not to. As they walked, Jikain barked orders at various Romulan officers who snapped to attention immediately and gathered more crew members to them before rushing off to accomplish whatever it was Jikain ordered them to do. Elonat didn't even bother trying to ask what was going on. Everything was too loud, too bright, too chaotic.

They rounded the corner and a whole slew of Romulans came rushing towards them, following a Romulan officer who paused just long enough for Jikain to order something to. Jikain pulled Elonat closer against him as they filed past. He leaned down and whispered to her, "Just to my left here are the escape pods. We never use them though our engineers continue to design them."

"What's going on?" Elonat twisted her head to basically yell at Jikain once he moved away from the little enclave they'd shoved themselves into in order to allow the others to pass.

"A Tellerite fighter got lucky with a few shots and our cloaking device is down. We're fighting off what seems to be an armada of Tellerite, Andorian, and human ships now. The admiral and his ships are only now coming into the sector for our rendezvous but that's still half a day's journey from here. We're fighting our way through this onslaught but-"

The ship lurched again and this time it felt as if Jikain purposefully pushed them to the ground. His grip on her arm fell away and when the tumbling stopped, Elonat looked up to see Jikain sprawled against one side of the corridor, she against the other, and his weapon on the floor between them. More voices came from down the corridor. Jikain coughed, bringing Elonat's gaze back to him, and he was staring at her as if he wanted her to take the weapon. Another vibrating quiver went through the ship and more smoke flowed into the corridor. It was enough cover for Elonat to reach forward and seize the weapon. As she watched Jikain through the smoke, it looked as if he was offering a pinched Romulan smile of relief.

"What do you intend to do?" Jikain spoke as she came close and gestured for him to stand up.

"Show me how your unused escape pods work." Why else would he have mentioned them to her except that he wanted her to make use of them if possible? "Quickly!" She pushed at his shoulder to get him to move faster as the voices came closer to their position.

They made it to the enclave and both managed to duck into it just as another group of guards came rushing past. Elonat gripped the weapon between them but Jikain held himself with ease. He pointed to a few buttons on the outside and the inside of the closest pod, explaining which ones did what in a very laissez faire manner. When he finished he stepped away and stared at her.

"You're liable to get shot out of space launching out in that thing during a battle." Jikain crossed his arms over his chest.

Elonat smiled, "Yet you'd prefer me to take me chances with space than with your own government, wouldn't you?" Jikain said nothing. Elonat held up the weapon, "Please tell me which one to set this thing to so it'll stun and not kill."

"All weapons are automatically in stun setting until ordered otherwise."

Voices came down the corridor, this time calling Jikain's name. Elonat's eyes grew wide as Jikain's narrowed. She backed into the open escape pod, weapon aimed at Jikain with one hand while the other moved towards the self-ejection button. Jikain's lips drew back into a smirk just as some of his men came around the corner. Elonat took him at his word and fired, a beam of energy hitting Jikain directly in the chest, just as she hit the eject button.

The g-force of the ejection slammed her into her seat and knocked her head harshly against the back of it. She'd forgotten to strap herself in so as the pod whirled its way out of the Romulan vessel and into space she bounced off the walls and knocked against levers and buttons she was certain shouldn't be knocked against until finally the pod seemed to find a sort of equilibrium and she was able to sprawl in a unmoving heap at the bottom of the pod.

There was a small window through which she could look out of but all she could see was black then, as the pod turned, the battle between the ships, then black again, then the battle, with the battle getting smaller and smaller as her pod drifted further away. Jikain was right, she was probably going to die in this pod. Either from starvation and exposure once it broke down or by getting picked up by another Romulan vessel. But at least she'd decided and followed through on her own accord.

Elonat sat back down and pressed the button Jikain had said would give her sustenance. It was a gelatinous substance that seemed to be an effort to fulfill both food and water needs for Romulans in one go. Elonat shrugged and sucked it in as she settled back in her seat. Now she just had to figure out which of these buttons could send a signal to earth, or at least one she could find if Romulans appreciated music while they sat in space awaiting rescue.


	8. A Funny Thing

_There is an OC here, Brenna Jones, who is also a time traveler—and bless her heart connected to Q—and has her own set of stories that you can read at your own leisure. Aside from that FYI, enjoy the show. Cheers!_

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"How long does she have to stay in there for?"

Elonat's eyes popped open at the question. It was voiced by a stranger, in English, and sounded as if spoken on the other side of a wall. She remained still for the moment but looked around as best she could without giving away that she was alert. Elonat was no longer in the escape pod, that much was for certain and, from the looks of the interior of whatever chamber she currently lay in, whatever ship or whatever place she happened to be in was most assuredly not Romulan.

"She should be free for me to assess momentarily. Captain Archer specifically ordered that she have extra time since she went from her cryogenic chamber on the moon to the Romulan ship to their escape pod before we found her. There's no telling what sort of microbes she might be carrying that could otherwise infect the ship."

Elonat heard a tapping just off to her right and, without meaning to, turned her head towards the sound. She blinked at the face of a smiling female human standing on the other side of a thick wall of glass. The human female waved before gesturing to the male alien standing just to her side.

"I see that you're awake. I'm Brenna and this is Phlox." Elonat sat up, feeling strangely woozy. "Phlox is the doctor on board and I'm a MACO soldier assigned to keep an eye on you." The woman, Brenna, did not in the least act like she felt threatened by Elonat nor did she thus far act like any soldier Elonat had ever encountered, in this time or her own. "I'm sure you're wondering where you are and, based on what I've been told about you when you are." Brenna seemed to amuse herself with her own words. "People don't seem to think about how important that last question is. When. Always more focused on where and what."

Phlox interrupted Elonat's eccentric watchdog, "I seem to think that the question of why is asked more often than when or what."

"True," Brenna shrugged then turned her attention back to Elonat, "In any case, you're now on board the starship _Enterprise_. Captain Archer is in charge and we were a part of the auxiliary force sent to retrieve the ambassadors held by Terra Prime. We altered course when we received word that the ambassadors had already been retrieved but they'd given an indication that a unique asset had been taken by the Romulans. Rather a strange thing to hear, this side of space you know, but then we happened upon your escape pod haphazardly which, in all honesty, is the theme of my life."

Elonat shook her head at the information overload, "How long have I been here? How long was I in the escape pod?"

"Based on the depleted food reserves on the escape pod as well as your general well-being, I would postulate that you had been in the pod approximately four days before we found you." Phlox looked at a timekeeping device and nodded. "I'll ready a biobed for you. You will be free to come out in a few more moments." He turned and busied himself, leaving Elonat with the very non-soldierly MACO.

"We were actually set to move back into the 'once Expanse' to explore some new regions of space and I'm not kidding when I say we just about bumped into you. Like you were this close to being a hood ornament." Brenna made a gesture with her fingers. "Now we're waiting to hear back from Star Fleet to figure out where we're taking you. Because, you know," Brenna pointed to her own ears, indicating Elonat's hybrid status.

Elonat smiled, amused by this woman's offbeat humor and shameless nature, "They're deciding if I should be taken to Vulcan or Earth?"

"You guessed it!" Brenna nodded. At a noise from Phlox Brenna stood up from the chair she'd brought to sit on by the glass. Seconds later the chamber door hissed open and Brenna moved inside. "I can imagine you're feeling a bit wobbly after floating around eating goo for four days so let me help you." Before Elonat could argue, Brenna lifted one of Elonat's arms around her shoulders and hoisted up her upwards. Elonat was taller than Brenna and this made their movements even more awkward but Elonat got the feeling that if she insisted she could walk just fine on her own this strange woman would be in some fashion offended.

"Right." Phlox stepped forward with a device in his hand just as soon as Brenna stepped back, looking mighty proud of herself for helping Elonat. "This will be a standard physical examination. Unless you know of any reason why I should scan for something in particular."

Elonat raised an eyebrow, "Um, I don't know what you're insinuating."

"Nothing at all," Phlox smiled as he began to wave the device back and forth in front of her, "The captain reported to me that he'd heard you'd undergone quite the ordeal back on the moon and I, perhaps wrongfully, assumed that you'd received much the same treatment with the Romulans." Phlox's lips drew downward in a thoughtful frown. "That is strange."

"What?" Both Brenna and Elonat asked at the same time.

"Your bioscans are unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm picking up fairly normal readings for both humans and Vulcan but there are also other anomalies that I'm not familiar with showing up."

Elonat sighed, "I think I can explain them but the captain should be here." Elonat curled her fingers into the biobed. "I believe my answer will help Star Fleet figure out which planet to dump me out on."

Phlox nodded and moved to a communication center. Elonat looked back over to Brenna. The woman seemed to nearly vibrate with energy and was looking at Elonat with an expression no one else had given her in the time since she'd woken up on that moon. It almost seemed as if Brenna was trying to convey a deeper empathy or understanding with her expression.

Before Phlox came back, or Elonat could question Brenna, the woman winked at her then snapped to her best rendition of attention as the medical bay door opened and a man came in. He was of average height but athletic build. He wore a uniform like Brenna's and based on Brenna's behavior, Elonat assumed that he was her commanding officer. Upon closer inspection, he had a kind face, albeit with an expression of neutral strength, and was altogether handsome. He hesitated just briefly when he saw Elonat awake and on the biobed but quickly recovered and moved closer until he could address both Brenna and Elonat.

"I am Major Jeremiah Hayes, I-"

"Elonat Madsen." Elonat interrupted him before he could launch into whatever set of orders or stipulations he'd been about to give her. She didn't know why she'd felt the desire to give her surname to this man wherewith everyone before she'd been guarded. But there was something about the way he carried himself, the confidence of his countenance mixed with what seemed to be a warmth, guarded and buried, in his eyes. It could also just be that she was tired of holding back and now that she was with humans she felt, regardless of if they accepted her or not, it would do well to be open with them.

"Ms. Madsen," the major gave her a polite nod of acknowledgment before he went back to exactly what he'd come into the room for, "Lieutenant Reed is the security officer of this ship but until we are informed otherwise by Star Fleet you are under MACO jurisdiction. I am the MACO leader and while you are onboard the _Enterprise_ a member of my team will be your escort. If you have any questions or concerns, you will direct them to your MACO escort or directly to myself."

"Understood, Major. May I say thank you for assigning me Brenna first off." The major looked confused then began to narrow his gaze at his subordinate. Elonat got the feeling that Brenna tended to be the screw up of his people. "She's been a great help at making me feel more comfortable and welcomed on board when I know that my presence and my very existence can be unsettling to most." Brenna seemed to stand straighter under Elonat's words and she watched as the major shook his head slightly before turning his gaze back to Brenna.

"I'm glad she could be of assistance to you already. I hope I can count on your cooperation and compliance with our regulations while you are here. They are for your safety as well as that of the crew." Elonat could see in his eyes that he stood by his words and yet he seemed to hesitate to say them, or least seemed uncomfortable with the insinuation behind them.

She smiled and watched another small look of surprise cross his face—perhaps seeing such ready emotions on an otherwise Vulcan looking face was the cause. "I know I'm an outlier; an unknown. I'm not offended by your precautions and I completely understand them. I can assure you that I have no intention of bringing harm to anyone. Although I have augmented DNA that is connected to a very violent time, I personally do not tends towards violence." She glanced at Brenna and gave the woman a wink of her own. "Often." The major's eyes narrowed and Elonat let out a quick laugh. "I'm joking, Major."

He opened his mouth to reply but then they were joined by what Elonat assumed was the captain as well as a female Vulcan. Elonat immediately raised her hand and gave the greeting her grandfather had taught her. It surprised her how quickly her body responded to the sight of the Vulcan and not only that but her grandfather's consciousness, having until now lain dormant in her mind alongside her father's, raised up and moved. Elonat winced at his movements, far more powerful than any other time since she'd been awakened, and pressed both her hands against her temples with a moan.

"What is it Phlox?" the captain asked when the sensors of her biobed began to chirp and whir frantically. Elonat's equilibrium began to compromise and she nearly fell off the bed only to find two firm hands holding her steady. The major's brown eyes stared back into her own and she nodded her thanks, still unable to let go of her head.

"That's why I wanted you here, captain, or well that's why she told me to call you down here. I don't know how it is possible but," Phlox took out another device and pressed it again Elonat's neck. Immediately some of the pain that had begun to build up in her head subsided, although her grandfather's consciousness continued to whirl around violently. Elonat let go of her head as the major let go of her shoulders and stepped back again. She gave him another small nod accompanied by a smile. He remained stoic in return. "When I scanned her earlier, for a moment, it seemed as if I was reading two more bio-signatures alongside her own." Phlox looked to the female Vulcan for his answers. "They both read as Vulcan. Or at least mostly Vulcan. I don't know how to explain it, captain. I've never seen anything like it before."

Elonat took steadying breaths, doing her best to calm her mind, and her grandfather's consciousness, so she could offer answers. During this time, the Vulcan had stepped closer and spoke in her grandfather's native tongue once Phlox ceased talking. Elonat felt she knew, or at least her grandfather's consciousness knew, some of what the Vulcan was saying, but she'd never learned Vulcan to the degree that her father had. It'd been much too dangerous for her to do so and they'd stopped her lessons once all the refugees had begun to pour onto their ranch.

"I'm sorry," Elonat replied when the Vulcan repeated herself, "a part of me seems to know what you're saying but I do not."

"What do you mean," the captain moved to stand directly beside the Vulcan, "a part of you?"

Elonat looked from the captain back to the Vulcan, "I think she knows more than I do about the hows and the whys but all I can tell you is that ever since I was awakened from my chamber on that moon it has felt like both my grandfather and my father's consciousnesses are inside my head."

The Vulcan raised a singular eyebrow while Brenna muttered something under her breath. Elonat glanced over to the major and saw his gaze narrow even further. She may have just become an even greater "threat" in his mind by this confession.

"T'Pol?" The captain turned to the Vulcan with his question.

The Vulcan continued to study her as she responded to the captain, "I do not have enough evidence, captain, but given her hybrid status, it is possible that prior to being put into cryogenic sleep those in her family line who were Vulcan may have placed their _katra_ inside her for safekeeping. Perhaps with the thought that Vulcans would come back to Earth and form an alliance with humans once they achieved warp capabilities."

Both the captain and Phlox began to speak at once but T'Pol ignored both men for the time being and instead kept her focus on Elonat. "May I meld with you?"

Elonat nodded and held still as the Vulcan placed her hands in their proper positions. Her touch didn't seem as assured or trained as either her grandfather's or fathers and Elonat found that fact fascinating. But then her conscious thought was whisked away as she felt yet another presence poking about in her mind. It wasn't a hurting presence, or a nuisance, but it did bring more pressure to her head making it ache again. Elonat did her best to keep her instinctive barriers down so this Vulcan could find whatever it was she was looking for. She was surprised when she felt both her grandfather and her father move forward and circle around the new presence, as if they too were trying to make sure the Vulcan knew them. Soon enough the presence withdrew and Elonat was left again with herself. When Elonat opened her eyes, she saw a strange look lingering on T'Pol's face.

"Captain," T'Pol spoke after a few silent moments of studying Elonat, "she is in possession of one full _katra_ and one partial one. I have never before seen or felt the _katra_ of a hybrid but the full _katra_ is that of Mestral." T'Pol broke eye contact with Elonat and looked to the captain. "Do you remember the story I told you about Carbon Creek?"

The captain's eyes grew large, "You mean to tell me that the Vulcan who chose to stay behind eventually found a human mate and this is," he gestured to Elonat from her head to her toes, "the result?"

T'Pol nodded, "Captain, she needs to go to Vulcan immediately. I believe it is only due to her hybrid nature and the Augmented DNA that her mind has not completely broken apart. I have never known of any instance where more than one _katra_ was carried within a temporary host."

"Excuse me," Brenna drew everyone's attention to her and Elonat couldn't help but smile when she saw that the woman had a hand up like she was in school, "could someone explain what's going on?"

"A _katra_ is the soul of a Vulcan and before a Vulcan dies they will pass their _katra_ into a temporary host if they are not on Vulcan where the _katra_ of the ancestors may be stored in their temples," the captain spoke with surprising understanding and gave the impression to Elonat that he'd once been more intimately acquainted with such things than most humans.

"You and I," Elonat drew T'Pol's attention back to herself, "have much to talk about because until just now I didn't know what a _katra_ was but you said my grandfather's name truly and you seem to know about him too."

"Mestral was your grandfather?" The captain blew air out through his teeth. "My Earth history lessons may not be the best but," he turned to T'Pol, "just how long can Vulcans live?"

"Approximately two hundred and twenty years."

The captain shook his head and made another whistling noise, "So then how did you end up with Augment DNA? Was that your grandfather's idea? Or your father's?"

Elonat didn't like the insinuation against either man, "I was kidnapped by fanatics a few days after I was born. They experimented on me with their serums and what you see here," she gestured to herself in a similar fashion as the captain had earlier and watched as his cheeks tinted pink in shame, "is the result of inter-species breeding and infant experimentation. My mother died in the process of rescuing me from those terrorists and my grandfather and father raised me. The only reason I'm here and they aren't is because I won a lottery to be put into the cryogenic chamber. I didn't want to go but my grandfather told me I had to, that there was more that could be accomplished by my living than by my dying with them." Elonat shrugged and wiped at her eyes then inwardly cursed; she hadn't cried in front of someone in years. "From the welcome party I got back on that moon, as well as the treatment I received by the Romulans," an image of Jikain came to mind and she momentarily wondered if T'Pol had seen any of her time with him in the brief meld, "not to mention this," she nodded towards Major Hayes but felt her own cheeks warm at the aggressive insinuation she'd just thrown at him, "I can see what he was talking about. I defy the standard operating procedures of current inter-species relations, don't I?" Brenna eagerly nodded while everyone else remained stoic. "And my Augment DNA seemingly makes me a security risk to anyone and everyone because I'm a living relic of a past everyone would rather forget."

The room was silent a spell, aside from the noises of animals. It appeared that this doctor had an affinity for pets and had numerous cages placed around the room. It was the captain who eventually broke the tension.

"I'm sorry if my earlier remarks came across as accusatory or belligerent," he inclined his head slightly towards her, "I did a pretty good job of sticking my boot in it and I haven't even properly introduced myself. Captain Jonathan Archer, this is my science officer T'Pol. You are already acquainted with our doctor, Phlox, and I'm sure Major Hayes and Private Jones have made themselves known to you." Elonat nodded to each person as Archer reintroduced them.

"Elonat Madsen." She directed her own introduction to T'Pol and Archer alone as the others were well aware already of her name

"You are welcome to the ship for the time you are with us, Ms. Madsen, and I again apologize for any untoward behavior or feelings I or my crew may have thus far caused you. I cannot even begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now." He hesitated and looked at Elonat strangely. "Do you identify as having feelings?" His eyes darted towards T'Pol in such a way that Elonat chuckled.

"Yes, Captain Archer, I do. I am only quarter-Vulcan. I inherited more of the Vulcan looks than my father, surprisingly enough, but he most assuredly had more of their countenance. My grandfather never held my humanity against me, nor my father either. From what I have encountered with non-humans so far, perhaps present company excepted, that does not seem to the norm. I take it humans are late to this space game?"

Brenna let out an unladylike snort then ducked her head when Major Hayes threw a glare at her. Archer chuckled as well, however, and nodded, "I would be happy to do my best to bring you up to speed on human happenings over the past few centuries this evening over dinner. Please dine with me and my officers in my quarters. That is," he glanced at Phlox, "if she's fit enough to be released from sickbay."

"From what I can tell, she's as fit as a Grenolian weasel." When everyone merely blinked at him Phlox smiled, "They're known for having great health and fortitude. Fascinating little creatures, actually, I remember-"

Elont allowed the doctor's voice and his unnecessary but amusing monologue to further wash over her nerves. The brief meld and the Vulcan's presence had her head hurting in a way it hadn't before and she knew it was because her grandfather knew he was closer to home than ever before. In a way Elonat was jealous. Soon both her grandfather and even her father would have a home, a place they were expected to dwell, a place that had expectations and a purpose for them. Whereas she, well Elonat was just as adrift in this time as she had been on her own. She had no skills that this age seemed to need or even want—and she wasn't about to seek gainful employment based solely on her Augment DNA, that went against her principles. She was without place and people.

She jerked a bit when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Brenna and returned the woman's smile. Yet again she felt a connection, an empathy, from this woman that she hadn't felt from anyone else. She hoped that in the coming days onboard the _Enterprise_ she'd have a chance to hear more from T'Pol about her grandfather and get to the bottom as to why she felt such a connection to Brenna. She let Brenna lead her from sickbay, only just noticing that both Archer and T'Pol had previously left. She noticed that Hayes kept in step with them, staying quiet as Brenna indicated the various routes to various places she figured Elonat would find interesting at some point in the future.

He kept quiet all the way to the door to Elonat's new quarters, in fact, and only spoke once Brenna had Elonat's door opened and they all stood awkwardly just outside. "If you have any concerns I am just down there," he pointed a few doors down the corridor, "and Brenna is just here," he pointed across the hall from Elonat's room, "she's bunking with another MACO, Mackenzie." Hayes gave her another polite nod then began to back away, "Goodnight then."

Both Brenna and Elonat remained quiet until he was out of sight and, hopefully, out of earshot as Brenna let out a whistle and shook her head, "What is it with men and seeming damsels in distress! Am I right?" She turned to Elonat with an amused yet exasperated look on her face. "All you had to do was throw a little sob story around in there and BAM both the captain and the major are tripping over themselves to make sure you're all right." Brenna shook her head and preceded Elonat into her quarters.

"It wasn't a sob story," Elonat wasn't offended by the woman; more confused than anything. "It was the truth."

"Oh, I know it was the truth, and sorry if that came out as disbelief. I just never cease to be amazed and amused by men. Namely because that sort of thing never seems to work for me. I could tell the truth of my existence until I was blue in the face and they'd probably look up from whatever the hell they'd been doing and say the equivalent of, 'Oh, were you saying something Jones? Didn't even know you were here.'" Brenna snorted as she pulled out a chair at the small table/desk nearest the door and sat down. "Not much to explain here. Pretty straight forward, except for the technology bit. That'll take some getting used to but at least it's in English."

"Thank you." Elonat ran her fingers over the console of what looked to be a computer-type device next to Brenna. "It was pretty damn difficult trying to figure this sort of thing out on the Romulan ship."

Brenna nodded, 'I'm sure. It is pretty hard to figure out on this ship too, to be honest. I'm still getting things wrong."

"That's not so reassuring for me since you grew up with this." Elonat chuckled before sitting down on the small bunk bed opposite where Brenna sat.

Brenna's humor melted away and a sudden seriousness came upon her. "Yeah, about that," Brenna leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, "I think you and I should have a chat but you've got to promise me what I'm about to tell you doesn't leave this room." Elonat raised a singular eyebrow in response and watched in confusion as Brenna's lips curved upward into a melancholic smile. "I don't think you're related to him but whenever you do that it reminds me a lot of an old friend. You actually have something in common with him."

"Oh? Was he a Vulcan."

"Yeah," Brenna kept smiling, "he was half-human too."


	9. A Bit Unorthodox

_Accidentally Going is in Star Trek Original Series and Tripping Through is in Star Trek 2009, in case you want to read up on Brenna's story. Thank you for your support and also your prompts. Cheers!_

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Three days and two very late nights spent talking formally with T'Pol, and informally with Brenna, later found Elonat feeling marginally more prepared for their arrival on Vulcan. T'Pol had filled in the missing gaps of Elonat's grandfather's arrival on earth and told her that the Vulcan ambassador from Earth, Soval, had been informed Elonat's dilemma and would meet them on Vulcan. He would be the linguistic and cultural liaison for Elonat as they transferred the _katra_ s and then Elonat would be given access to Vulcan records for the purpose of finding any distant Vulcan relatives (should they even desire to lay claim to her as a relative was still uncertain even for T'Pol as Elonat's very existence was an unprecedented challenge).

They were due to arrive in another four days and until then Elonat had been cleared by Archer to roam the ship to her heart's delight, with Brenna ever-present at her side. Hayes had made sure to keep the original assignment of Brenna as Elonat's MACO escort namely because Brenna put up such an insubordinate stink about possible reassignment that Hayes had threatened to throw her in the brig. This hadn't phased the woman in the slightest and it had taken Elonat gently requesting the same thing for Hayes to relent, calling off Brenna's proposed replacement of Mackenzie, and go his way. He remained polite and friendly enough towards Elonat but had not yet made any major efforts to grow more acquainted with her.

For the most part, the crew of the ship treated Elonat warmly. The ship's communications officer, Hoshi, and the helmsman Mayweather were the friendliest, being of the similar mischievous ilk to Brenna. And the engineer Trip came close behind in levels of friendliness. It seemed that there was a strange almost sexual dimension between Trip and T'Pol that kept them both preoccupied, either with avoiding each other and thereby making them fairly elusive in present conversation with others or in keeping them off together conspiring over whatever it was that seemed to be bothering them. No one openly spoke about what everyone saw; well, no one except Brenna. Brenna spoke about anything and everything with near anyone.

Elonat now knew why she felt such an affinity for Brenna. On her first night, Brenna had explained how she too was a woman out of place in time and reality. She'd described an alternate reality where the Eugenics Wars and World War 3 had never happened. It had been from that 21st-century reality that Brenna been transported to the starship _Enterprise,_ but an _Enterprise_ that existed in the future with a different crew—and it had been among this crew that Brenna had referenced her human-Vulcan friend Spock.

Elonat's head had begun to hurt by the time Brenna came to the "end" of her story which didn't seem to be an end at all. Having been personally chosen as a "playmate" of an omnipresent entity like Q sounded both fascinating and horrifying. Brenna had explained to Elonat that she would continue to exist in this time and place only for as long as Q deemed it entertaining for him. The woman had said this as a warning to Elonat, just in case she woke up one morning and Brenna was gone altogether.

In comparison to Brenna's dilemma, Elonat felt that hers was at least marginally stable. They were on their way to Vulcan but after that was unknown. Would distant Vulcan relatives seek to adopt her? Would those of the scientific world, be it on Vulcan or Earth, allow her to live in peace? Would the Romulans come after her again? Would she have to go into hiding from all planets and governments in order to keep Augment DNA from resurging again? Elonat found no comfort in her grandfather or father's presence, from their _katra_ s in her mind, and neither did she find reassurance in T'Pol's equally uncertain gaze. And so Elonat sought to stay as actively engaged outwardly as possible until they arrived on Vulcan.

This determination was what led her to seek out Brenna's accompaniment to the training room during the daily sparring sessions the MACOs held. Hayes had mentioned them to her two days before when she'd asked how they kept themselves trained and ready whilst on the ship, but she'd not yet been in the mindset to join in. Yet now she had more than one reason to come by. As she and Brenna stood on the sidelines watching, Elonat noticed the MACOs were using moves she'd never seen. Considering how she'd won against Jikain, Elonat knew she'd need to have better tactics than solving all tight spots with a kiss. If this century proved like her own, and it seemed it would, then she was doomed to have idiots challenge her to fights and attempt to egg her into fights once they discovered her Augment DNA or even just took note of her hybrid status.

"You know what I miss?" Elonat made a noise in her throat to indicate she was listening to Brenna though she kept her eyes on the individuals sparring in front of them. "I miss silence."

"What do you mean?" Elonat questioned, still not looking away from the MACOs.

Elonat heard Brenna unstrap her sparring glove and re-tighten it as she spoke, "Even when no one is talking here, there's still noise. All this technology," Brenna waved a hand around the exercise room they stood in, "it's always making noise. I crave the away missions on undeveloped planets, not that I get sent on those very often as I've been deemed a 'loose cannon', but I crave them because it's the closest thing to silence I can get in this time and place."

Elonat glanced to either side of where they stood. Thankfully no one stood nearby who was paying them any sort of attention; everyone seemed to be intent upon the sparring matches.

"There was silence on our ranch when I was young," Elonat smiled at the memory then assumed a neutral expression when the momentary happy memory gave way to one of the opposite nature, "but by the time I went into the chamber there was rarely silence."

They were both spared further rumination by the sudden appearance of Hoshi and Mayweather, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

"Hey Brenna," Hoshi sidled up beside them, "Elonat." She was also dressed in exercise clothes, as was Mayweather. They all stood watching the sparring for a moment before Hoshi turned to Elonat, "I have to ask!" She waved away a cautioning hand from Mayweather. "You said you had to wrestle the Romulan commander in order to get away to the escape pods."

Elonat blushed. She'd hedged the truth a bit in order to disguise the timeline between when she'd fought Jikain and when she'd escaped. Only Brenna knew the truth and that was only because Elonat had felt a strange obligation to reveal the full truth to her fellow displaced in time sojourner since Brenna had trusted Elonat with her own truth.

Elonat nodded and hesitantly spoke, "Yes, why do you bring it up now?"

"Well," Hoshi gestured to the sparring mats, "can you show us how you did it? From what we've been told by T'Pol and Phlox, Romulans are very strong and ferocious fighters. And no offense, but you don't seem to be the fighting type." Again Mayweather tried to grab at Hoshi but she shrugged off his attempts to hush her; Elonat smiled at the display of his friendship and her unabashed curiosity.

"You're right, Hoshi, I'm not what one could call a fighter. I have some martial arts training, but it was mostly for defense and not offense. Both my grandfather and my father wanted me to be able to get out of fights quickly and without hurting my opponents." Before Hoshi could interrupt again, Elonat held up a hand. "I did use some, what shall we call it, unorthodox moves in order to win against the Romulan commander so that combined with my superior strength is what I believe allowed me to get away."

She heard Brenna cough at her side, but the woman wisely remained silent aside from that. Hoshi, on the other hand, only seemed more curious, "What sort of unorthodox moves? We get our training from Lieutenant Reed and he's always trying to teach us moves he's learned from various alien species but is pretty by-the-book in his methods. And Lieutenant Hayes is much the same, but he focuses mostly on training the MACOs now."

There seemed to be a story there, in the way Hoshi spoke and her tone of voice, but there was no time to delve into it for the arrival of both Lieutenants to the room had them all pausing in conversation. Before Elonat could blink, Hoshi waved to the men and gestured for them to join. Only Hayes came over immediately as Lieutenant Reed momentarily retreated to another group of ensigns and began, it looked like, to berate them for their lack of proper technique.

"Lieutenant Hayes," Hoshi spoke brightly once he stood in front of them, "Elonat was just telling us that she used some unorthodox moves to get away from the Romulans who'd held her captive. Have you ever fought a Romulan before?"

Hayes shook his head, "I've never even seen a Romulan before." He turned his gaze to Elonat who by this point in time really wished she had some excuse to retreat as Reed seemed to have had, "Would you mind showing us how you got away? I'm always looking to incorporate more movements into my repertoire."

About to protest Elonat felt a hand on her wrist and looked over to Brenna. The woman looked like a child in a candy store, near quivering with excitement, and Elonat sighed. Brenna had explained to Elonat that she would only continue to exist in this reality so long as the Q entity remained entertained. While Elonat got the feeling that Brenna's desire to see whatever was about to happen was more for her own entertainment than for the sake of appeasing Q, Elonat couldn't help but think that maybe by following through with this inadvertent setup that Brenna would remain by her side longer. She was the closest thing to a friend that Elonat had experienced in years, aside from Mr'ish, and if this small embarrassment could help keep Brenna by her side longer then Elonat would go through with it.

"Sure," Elonat returned her gaze to Hayes and smiled, "do you want me to tell you the moves before I execute them or just let them happen?" Hoshi began pounding on Brenna's back when she took to coughing.

Hayes played right into her ploy when he replied, "If you tell me beforehand then I'll be influenced in my responses and those watching may lose out on learning experience. No, just let the punches fall as they may."

Elonat nodded quietly. She shot Brenna a warning look before following Hayes onto the one free sparring mat. They hadn't even started yet and already those who had previously been milling about on the sidelines were moving closer to watch. Only T'Pol, Archer, Phlox, Brenna, and Hayes knew of her Augment DNA. Everyone else had been allowed to believe that it was her hybrid nature that made her stronger than the average human. So these on-lookers were mostly out of curiosity over a hybrid against Hayes and not an Augment against human.

Hayes took up position opposite her and assumed a ready position. Elonat quickly played out in her memory all her moves that had led to the culminating winner move—the kiss—and tried to play out in the here and now what she would have to do to get Hayes to react in a similar manner as Jikain. There were some major differences, however, in that Hayes did not think or move like a Romulan and was also physically weaker than a Romulan. She would have to tone back her own responses to keep from seriously injuring him, falling back on her childhood training with her grandfather and father.

"Ready when you are." Hayes brought Elonat back to the moment with his comment.

Before she could allow logic to dissuade her from her coming actions, Elonat complied with Brenna's unspoken request for entertainment. She casually walked up to Hayes, his stance unwavering though his expression had changed to one of curiosity at her lack of blocking, and without pausing in her movements she moved her fist forward to slam into his chest. Though Hayes blocked it, unlike Jikain had, the momentum of her punch was enough to shift him off his feet and back a pace. He responded in a similar fashion to JIkain next in that he used his hold on Elonat's fist to jerk her forward as he used a leg sweep to have them both fall towards the mat.

She allowed the fall, as that had also happened originally, but used her superior strength to break Hayes' hold on her wrist and rocked her body away as he moved to grab hold. As his body continued forward in motion she flipped herself onto his back, much as she had that night with Jikain, only unlike Jikain Hayes seemed to be ready for this and instead of falling onto his stomach as Jikain had initially, Hayes flipped them immediately so that Elonat was pinned beneath his body on the mat, his back on her front. Jikain had done similar and this was where things were going to get complicated because it was about this time that she'd initially bit Jikain and caused them to both switch gears in their minds. She didn't know if Hayes would respond in the same manner though; being human, and less primal as it seemed both Vulcan and Romulans seemed to be, his response could be completely opposite to Jikain's. Either way, however, Hayes was beginning to extricate her arms and legs from around his body and had already rolled onto his front again in an effort to further dislodge her. She would have to follow through with her instinct. She bit him.

Hayes faltered just enough out of surprise that she was able to grab hold of his hands and slam them onto the mat on either side of his head while she also maneuvered her legs to lock his together and hyper-extended his knees so he couldn't move into a kneeling position without hurting himself. She hadn't bit his shoulder nearly as hard as she had Jikain but when she pulled her mouth away from his skin, she saw red indentations where her teeth had been.

"I'm assuming," Hayes grunted, his voice a little muffled by his lips' proximity to the mat, "that that was one of your unorthodox moves."

Elonat smirked, "Yes it was."

"I applaud the ingenuity." Hayes didn't knock his skull against her face as Jikain had but he did a strange curling move, pulling his limbs towards his core, that threw off Elonat's balance enough for him get a firm grip of the mat and reach around to throw her off his back.

She didn't have the time or ability to continue to roll away from him. Hayes was prepared mentally in ways that Jikain had not been. He was able to fall on top of her torso almost immediately, pinning her arms against her sides as he sought to move his hips to be atop her own so he could stop her legs movements. Elonat twisted her hips until they faced fully away from Hayes and used the momentum to keep the twisting movement until Hayes was half lying on her back, seeking to pin her down, instead of being chest-to-chest. So while the method was different, things were still playing out in a similar enough fashion. Hayes did place his head near the juncture of her neck and shoulder as he moved his body fully atop hers.

Elonat ceased all movement then and allowed her body to go completely limp. When Hayes leaned forward ever so slightly to check on why she might respond like that, Elonat pulled her second unorthodox move. She turned her head and without warning, she pressed her lips against his. Hayes pulled his face back quickly, barely allowing there to be enough time to even register that a kiss had happened. He blinked at her a moment before he let his head fall forward onto her shoulder and his whole body shook with laughter.

When he looked up again his eyes were mirthful, "I'm going to venture a guess that that was your winning move?" He began to extricate himself as he spoke. At Elonat's nod, he continued to chuckle, "I can understand why that would be a momentary win, but I certainly hope you don't intend upon winning every fight with that."

"No," Elonat pushed herself up and accepted his extended hand as he'd come to stand faster than she, "that was my original reason for coming here today. I was hoping to learn some more orthodox moves since I'd rather not weaponize my lips."

Hayes laughed again and Elonat shared in his mirth. It took them both a moment more of standing to realize a few things:

1\. That they still held hands,

2\. That they were not the only people in the room, and

3\. That everyone had stopped sparring and had been watching them intently.

Hayes dropped her hand and took a step back, his earlier open expression remaining friendly but schooling into a more neutral version of it. Elonat swiped her hands over her face to take care of the beads of sweat she'd produced and glanced over to Brenna. The woman was doubled-over and Hoshi seemed to be stroking her back while Mayweather stood biting his lips to keep from laughing. A few other people also looked ready to die of laughter while some just looked confused, namely Lieutenant Reed.

"Well then perhaps you could join in with the other MACOs during our training sessions from tomorrow onwards until we reach Vulcan. We might be able to help prevent further weaponization." He gave a hint of a wink and Elonat chuckled.

"Thank you, that would be most appreciated." She rubbed at her own neck then and indicated Hayes', "I hope I didn't bite too hard."

"Nah," Hayes waved away her concern, "you didn't draw blood and that's enough for me." He reached out and placed a hand over the bite mark and pulled his fingers away, nodding to himself at the lack of blood.

"Excuse me," they both turned, along with near everyone else in the room, at the sound of Phlox's voice at the room's entrance, "may I steal away Elonat?"

Elonat spared a glance at Brenna and, seeing the woman much recovered, nodded her head to Phlox. She gave Hayes another smile, both apologetic and thankful before she followed Phlox and a still chuckling Brenna from the room.

"Are you alright, Brenna?" Phlox spoke over his shoulder as he led them towards sickbay. From his tone of voice, he didn't sound particularly concerned about Brenna's health status as perhaps it was a common enough occurrence for her to double over from laughter.

"Yup," she kept wiping at her eyes and nose, "I'm just great. Laughter is the best medicine after all." She glanced over her shoulder at where they'd come from then lightly punched Elonat's shoulder, "Oh my word, Elonat! I wish I could've gotten that on video. I don't know which was more entertaining, watching you with Hayes or watching everyone else watch you with Hayes." Brenna thrust both hands up in the air and chanted, "Perfect! Perfect!" She shook her head and attempted to sober up a bit before she added, "Thank you for humoring me, Elonat. That has got to be one of my favorite moments on this ship so far."

Before Brenna accidentally gave anything away in her mirth Elonat looked back to Phlox, "Is there a problem with the latest test results you took?" One of the reasons why Archer had been so amiable to allow her free-roaming was because she'd acquiesced to his request that Phlox run an extensive amount of scans and tests on her, for the purpose of sending the results on to both Vulcan and to Earth so they could assess…whatever the hell they felt the need to assess when it came to her existence.

"I believe this is a conversation best had in private." They'd arrived at sickbay and stood just outside the doors. Phlox was looking pointedly at Brenna who, bless her, looked over her own shoulder then back at Phlox. "You can wait out here and I'll call you in when you're needed again."

Brenna looked at Elonat before she sighed and nodded. She leaned against the wall opposite sickbay and made a point of looking as petulant as possible. Elonat shook her head with a smile at her friend as she followed Phlox into sickbay. He didn't lead her to a biobed but instead to a set of screens on the wall. He pushed a button and three of the screens blinked on.

"This is Vulcan," he pointed to the first screen, "this is human," he pointed to the middle, "and this is you."

Elonat looked at the screens for a moment trying to decipher what it was she was looking at then looked back to Phlox. He seemed content to allow her to flounder around in confusion and instead crossed his arms over his chest and took to stroking his chin as he watched her. She looked back to the screens and after a few more moments of study she felt her stomach bottom out in recognition.

"Based on your lack of color," she felt Phlox's hand on her elbow as he led her to a chair nearby, still within view of the telling screens, "I assume you recognize what these screens say about your current health status."

Elonat nodded, still not quite recovered enough for words.

"I'll want to do some more scans, specifically for this, and I'm going to prescribe you a daily multi-vitamin since this explains your lower levels in iron and calcium. I will advise you, however, to not do anything you aren't already doing. Introducing new highly strenuous activities could jeopardize your health or that of-"

"I know." Elonat offered Phlox a dazed and wobbly smile. "My grandmother and grandfather struggled for years but after so many losses," she placed a hand over her abdomen, "They were content with my father."

"Elonat, I will not lie to you and tell you that everything will work out fine. Healthy births among the same species are miracle enough let alone something of this caliber." Phlox pointed to the various screens in front of them. "Your health system is already unique due to your Augment DNA as well as your hybrid status and now with the addition of Romulan DNA into the mix," Phlox shook his head, "your case is entirely without precedent. I will do everything I can with my equipment here to assess the best care for you for the here and now as well as into the future but," Phlox sighed, "the Vulcan doctors are going to have to be informed of your status to ensure the best possible care for you while you are on their planet. Vulcan is far arider than you are accustomed to and it is quite easy for any human to go into shock if the proper precautions are not taken. With your pregnancy, you are at even greater risk."

"That is making the assumption that my Augment DNA and hybrid doesn't kick in and make me less likely to suffer from shock." Elonat did not speak harshly to Phlox nor did she argue with his logic. She understood the necessity of informing the Vulcan doctors and she knew that if she moved from Vulcan to Earth, as she already assumed she would, that Earth doctors would also need to be informed.

IF the baby survived that long. Elonat fought against a momentary wave of nausea. She knew it wasn't connected to the pregnancy and was instead connected to nerves. "I understand Dr. Phlox," she distracted herself from her own discomfort by turning her attention to the Denobulian. "Please inform whomever you feel it is necessary to inform to ensure the best possible care of myself and especially for the baby. I will comply with your instructions to the best of my own ability, though I already feel that I'll be having to make future adjustments in behavior and diet that I'm not going to be the happiest with."

Phlox smiled, "I'm glad you're taking this so well. I had worried that I'd still be standing over your fainted body on the floor." She shrugged but gave him a smile and he nodded. "I will be as discreet as possible and leave it to you to tell anyone on board of your pregnancy. I see no reason why anyone on the ship should know as your personal health is of no concern to them." He patted her shoulder and spoke softly, "I will do everything I can to keep this from turning you into a circus show. Already your privacy is seen as a risk to people who do not know you and now with this," Phlox shook his head, "I can only hope that there will be others on Vulcan and Earth who won't look at you merely as a fascinating science hypothesis come to life. And," he stood up straight, "I am sorry if my behavior towards you has ever made you feel that way."

"No," Elonat stood and took hold of one of his hands, "you never have. And I sincerely appreciate your discretion and sentiments. I do trust that you have my best interest at heart." She squeezed his hand then let go. She let the animal-noise filled silence reign a moment before she shrugged. "So do I get my first shot now or-?"

Phlox rushed off to get her medicine. Elonat looked again at the screens and let reality sink in more. She was no longer alone in this universe. For as long as this baby survived, she had someone to call her own, someone with whom she could create a family unit. Elonat smiled. She never would've thought herself to be the type to be excited at the prospect of children, especially unplanned ones, yet here she stood. The likelihood of ever meeting Jikain again was slim to none and so unless she came across someone whom she could trust her and her offspring's heart to enough to call husband, she would remain alone, raising this child. Her child. Elonat placed both hands over her abdomen. In her head, she felt the _katra_ s stir and she imagined she felt the baby move too—though it was certainly too early to feel such things. Yes, though unplanned, this child seemed to be just the thing she'd been wanting and needing in this universe.


	10. First Impressions

_Thank you for your reviews. I'm glad that the OCs are so well-liked, and that my depictions of canon characters seem to be on par with expectation. Feel free to leave a request for future scenes or characters, even song prompts. The information regarding language and Vulcan topography or clans does not come from me but from a variety of websources I'd be happy to share with those interested. In any case: Enjoy!_

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"Are you sure about this?"

Elonat smiled at Hayes and nodded, "Phlox just said I shouldn't do any new extraneous exercises. I don't think a little bit of training, such as our intention here, will be a problem. And besides, before I went into cryogenic sleep, and was interred on that moon, and kidnapped by the Romulans, I used to exercise nearly every day. I think it would be in mine, and my baby's, best interest to start exercising again."

"Agreed," Brenna spoke up from the side of the room where she sat next to an old-fashioned device. "Now are we ready for some workout jams or what?" She made a strange shape out of her fingers and frantically bobbed her head up and down in a semi-violent fashion. When both Hayes and Elonat stared at her, she shrugged, "Whatever, squares, you do the training, and I'll do the DJing."

Before either Hayes or Elonat could ask what she meant by that, some loud and raucous music erupted from the device at Brenna's side. Both Hayes and Elonat startled at the sound, which only amused Brenna further.

"What in the hell is that?" Hayes yelled over to Brenna.

They were lucky that no one else had come into the room. They'd decided to train in an off hour where they could have more privacy. As it was only Phlox, Brenna, and now Hayes knew about Elonat's condition. As soon as she'd left Phlox's side, she'd excitedly told Brenna, and this morning after breakfast she'd decided to tell Hayes. Pregnant or not, Brenna still needed and wanted to train with Hayes, so she had a better chance against possible (and probably) attackers in the future. She'd told him of her condition so that 1. He could adjust his tactics and training accordingly and 2. For whatever reason, ever since they'd "fought" Elonat felt a closer connection to him than anyone else on the ship (including Phlox), and it had only felt "natural" in a fashion to tell him. The man was to be commended, in fact, for his response to her. While she'd wondered if he'd stare at her in judgment or ridicule, instead he'd nodded and had immediately begun to speak aloud on all the adjustments he could do with their training to ensure that she could still improve but be safe. When he'd done this, Elonat had looked over to Brenna and watched the woman nod her head in agreement to Elonat's unspoken assessment of positivity towards Hayes' character.

"This is what I call 'classic rock.' It is a genre of music from centuries ago. I always listen to it when I need to train hard but don't feel the energy or aggression necessary." Brenna stood up and smiled. "If you want me to change it, I won't." She grinned at them both, turned the music louder, then set about dancing her way over to a punching bag where she began to haphazardly train on her own.

Hayes shrugged, as did Elonat, and they returned their attention to one another. As the hour drew by, Hayes proved true to his word, at making adjustments not only in his words but also his methods, so that Elonat could improve her tactics and sharpen the moves she already had. By the time their training session ended, and Brenna turned off the music that had, surprisingly, grown on both Hayes and herself, they'd agreed to meet for the remaining two days before arrival on Vulcan. Elonat's muscles were a bit stiff as she left the training room, but her heart was light. Doing this training made her feel more confident in this time and also made her feel more capable of protecting her unborn child.

And so Elonat's final days aboard the _Enterprise_ passed with some semblance of routine. It was wonderful as even before going into cryogenic sleep she'd had precious little of such peace and predictability. She'd spend the mornings meditating with T'Pol, after breakfast with Brenna and her gang of mischief makers (Hoshi, Mayweather, and Trip). Elonat would then report to Phlox to continue the scans and tests Archer had made her promise to willingly "give" to science. After this, she'd eat lunch then retire to her own quarters to attempt to catch up on the history she'd slept through. Then, during the regular dinner hour, Hayes and Elonat would train while Brenna stayed true to her word as well and continued to introduce them to all sorts of strange music: 20th-century alternative, Bollywood, NewWave, and Big Band. After training the three of them would share dinner in Hayes' quarters and trade stories.

Elonat felt happier in this strange time than she had even in the months, if not years, leading up to her cryogenic sleep. And Brenna and Hayes were turning out to be more like family than mere friends. Thankfully, the feelings were mutual. So much so, that Hayes insisted that Elonat keep track of his address on Earth so that if things didn't work out for her on Vulcan, she could stay with his mother and sister. They lived in a small community in Nebraska and Hayes told her he'd already spoken to both women about the idea and they were already letting him know of all the vacant positions in the town that would be happy to employ Elonat. This gesture on Hayes' part meant so much to Elonat that she'd been the one to initiate a hug between them. Hayes had seemed surprised but had returned it gladly enough.

Brenna, of course, couldn't offer the same kind of support or resources. She was even more gypsy in this time than Elonat. But she didn't let this get her down, nor did she allow it to fester in Elonat's spirits either. Both women were keenly aware of the fact that once Elonat left _Enterprise_ that the likelihood of their ever seeing each other again was slim. That was why they'd caved into the whims of the adolescent still living inside them and on Elonat's last night aboard the ship they slept in the same room.

'I can't remember the last time I had a sleepover," Brenna laughed, "at least with someone I wasn't you know, like really, sleeping with."

Elonat chuckled, "I never had one, at least not like you described it to me." She glanced at the table where there remained the empty plates and bowls of all the "junk food" Brenna had specifically ordered from the chef for this occasion. "I'm enjoying this though."

"Damn right you are. And you know what's next on our agenda?" Brenna grabbed the canister sitting on the table before her. "Prank time!"

Elonat had only nodded her head earlier when Brenna had explained how sleepovers demanded pranks. Now that they were about to execute said prank, Elonat felt a strange exhilarating nervousness set in. She'd never been one to do these things and never had had anyone to do them with in truth. Neither her father nor her grandfather had been the type, though both of them had had a sort of humor that suited them. To be able to do something now that most regular human children were able to do in their childhood made Elonat chuckle and she felt the _katra_ s of her kin twist and twirl in her head in a way that made her feel like they approved of her actions. It was good for her to experience these things now, especially since starting tomorrow she would be living on a planet with people who were even more "dour" than her grandfather had been.

Elonat had learned to "read" her grandfather because of their relationship and also, as T'Pol had explained to her, his time on Earth had undoubtedly encouraged his natural penchant for displaying more emotion than the average Vulcan. T'Pol had already inadvertently warned Elonat about the stark differences she'd find in the Vulcans on their native planet versus her grandfather on Earth. It was partially because of that that Elonat had not protested Brenna's insistence of a prank nor had she balked at the idea of playing said joke against the only other member of the ship that she felt an affinity for: Hayes.

"You're sure Reed gave you the right code?" Elonat whispered behind her friend as they crept down the corridor towards Hayes' room.

Brenna nodded, "Oh yes. He was more than happy to give me the code when I told him what we were doing and why." She looked over her shoulder to Eonat and winked. "He might walk around like he's got something shoved up his ass, but he's actually an okay guy once you get past his stereotypical British exterior."

Elonat nodded but remained silent as they'd reached their destination. Her whole body began to thrum with excitement as Brenna quickly typed in the code, and they both stiffened in readiness as the door slid open. Brenna gave Elonat another wink before they crept inside the shadowy room. Heavy breathing came from the lone bed in the far side of the room of mirrored layout to Elonat's. Brenna glanced at Elonat in question before moving towards Hayes' bed; Elonat held up the object she'd come with: a feather. Brenna grinned, and together they moved forward again.

The prank was simple, or at least it was in theory. Brenna would drop some shaving cream into Hayes' hand, and Elonat would tickle various parts of exposed skin. In theory, Hayes would then smear shaving cream across himself until either he woke up or they ran out of shaving cream. As they approached they found Hayes on his back and found one hand lying on his chest and the other palm up on the bed beside him; it seemed too good to be true.

But it only took one successful swipe which left a white smear of cream across the middle of Hayes' face before the man woke up. Seeing Brenna's grinning and giggling face, and Elonat's surprised one, hovering over his bed must've confused him. But when he'd discovered the cream in his hand, as well as the canister in Brenna's, he'd let out an expletive and surged to his feet. Brenna had tried to get him again with more cream, but he'd batted the canister away from her and managed to smear the remaining cream on his own hand all across Brenna's head. In that time, Elonat turned and grabbed the canister off the floor and was able to let loose a volley of cream but wasn't able to dodge Hayes' arms when they came around her and sent them both to the floor in a heap of laughter.

"Are you okay?" Hayes asked once they were on the ground. He'd turned them midair, so it was she who landed on him instead of the other way around.

Elonat grinned seconds before she smeared more cream onto his face, "Perfect."

The room was filled with more laughter, and it was much later that Brenna and Elonat returned to her quarters after having spent a goodly amount of time trading even more stories, this time of pranks and jokes, with one another. Elonat almost didn't want to sleep at all. But she knew she should, especially since she'd be exposing her body to an alien environment and she needed all the physical and mental strength possible to stay on her best behavior. No need to make a bad first impression unnecessarily.

"I'm going to miss you, Brenna," Elonat spoke into the darkness as they lay on their beds.

She heard the rustling sound of Brenna turning over, "I hope Q doesn't take your memories of me away from you because I'm sure as hell gonna miss you too Elonat."

Elonat smiled.

"Keep in touch as you're able and I promise I will as well," Brenna added. "And don't let those stuffy Vulcans give you hell. You don't need to conform to their standards. You are unique unto yourself. Acclimate and do everything possible to live at peace with the bastards, sure, but never betray your heritage."

"Thank you," Elonat turned her head and peered over to her friend, still clearly seen to her keen eyes even in the dark, "and you take care of yourself and keep an eye on Hayes, will you? He's far more honorable and kind than he should be, I'm afraid."

"Yup." Brenna saluted her. "Glad you see it too. If I wasn't still pining after the idiot I fell in love with in the last reality I was in, I could see potential with Hayes." At Elonat's questioning look Brenna shrugged her shoulders and waved away whatever concern Elonat's expression might've conveyed. "It just seems a shame for such a good man to remain untethered, you know?" She raised herself slightly then and gave Elonat a good, long look. "Think you could fancy him?"

"If by 'fancy him' you mean come to care for him romantically," Brenna nodded, and Elonat smiled, "I believe it is much too soon for me to contemplate that logically. My affair with Jikain had been about taking control, and pleasure, in a dire situation. I don't want my emotions or circumstances to control whatever next relationship I go into. As you know, I've had precious few relationships of a romantic nature. I'd rather have things occur naturally and over a more logical time period than what I have already experienced."

"Yeah, men suck." Brenna heaved out a sigh and laid back down. "Just keep him in mind if you're ever shopping around."

"Good night, Brenna." Elonat chuckled. "And thank you again."

"Good night, Elonat. Sweet dreams."

While her dreams were perhaps not as well as Brenna might have hoped, they at least were peaceful. It was in her dreams that her grandfather and her father took turns expressing themselves, in a fashion stretching out their _katra_ arms. Elonat first dreamt of her grandmother, seeing her with the eyes of her grandfather, and reliving some of their life together. Then she'd dreamt of her father and her mother. These dreams were always the most bittersweet for Elonat as she'd never met her mother, at least not as she could remember. Every time she had a dream of her mother she'd wake with her cheeks still wet with tears but her heart filled with love.

This didn't help matters much, having her heart already so wobbly after an emotional dream, when it came to saying goodbye the following morning. Saying her goodbyes to Archer and the others was easy enough. She appreciated their support and the education she'd received from them but had not made any lasting emotional connections with them. If she saw any of them again in her lifetime, she would be glad for it but would not yearn for it.

Hayes and Brenna, on the other hand, escorted her onto the shuttle that took her to the planet's surface and while she was thankful for that in one way in another she almost felt like they were delaying the inevitable. T'Pol was there too; she was tasked with making the formal introductions and transfers for Elonat from the ship to the surface and into the Vulcans care.

"Remember," T'Pol spoke up when they were only a few minutes out from docking, "do not touch anyone. Especially the men."

Elonat nodded. This lesson she'd learned from her own father. Though both her father and grandfather had been amiable to small hugs and light pats, neither of them had ever been the type to seek after affection the way most human males did. Elonat empathized with them in a fashion, but she knew that she felt more desire for affection than the average Vulcan and so would have to keep on her guard to avoid insult.

"And even if you disagree with what they are saying, allow anyone elder than you to finish speaking before you speak."

Brenna piped up, "Oh that's a general rule on Earth too. Don't speak when being spoken to, let your elders have their say, be polite. Basically Elonat," Brenna's face held humor though her voice sounded serious, "don't make an ass of yourself."

"Ensign Jones that's-"

"Initiating docking maneuvers in Shikahr." Mayweather interrupted T'Pol, though with a polite smile, and both Elonat and Brenna shared a sigh. She really didn't want to listen to T'Pol lecture Brenna for the last few moments they had together.

The planet that revealed itself before them was overwhelmingly reddish-yellow and aside from sleek, towering buildings attached to smooth, circular bases all interlocked with ivory looking thoroughfares like a grand maze of intelligent design, all was desert and rock. There seemed to dot the surface, in the brief glimpse they were given in their descent, a few green oases on the horizon. It reminded Elonat of the high desert as well as the Painted Rock area in the southwestern region of the old United States. It had its beauty, though it was a foreign beauty even to Elonat. She'd not spent much time far away from her home, due to obvious reasons, and so had not seen a great variety of topography in person.

"The ambassador who will be acting as your liaison is _S'haile_ Soval," T'Pol tipped her head to the side in thought then added, "I believe the closest translation for _s'haile_ is 'lord.'"

Brenna whistled through her teeth, "You mean he's Vulcan aristocracy?" She gave Elonat a pitying look.

"He is from a highly revered _ma'at_ , or clan group, and has been chosen by the clan mother, _ko'mekh,_ as the next to inherit ancestral lands in their home province of Raal. Once he has taken another _adun'a_." When everyone just stared at T'Pol she added, "Wife." She seemed disinterested in delving further into why this man would need to take another wife or how it seemed to them that the Vulcan society was matriarchal. Instead, she carried on with, "His title is _Kevet-dutar_ ; that's the closest translation in Vulcan to ambassador. If he so chooses, then you should address him as _Osu_ Soval but until he states this he should be _S'haile_ or _Kevet-dutar_."

Elonat felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Hayes giving her a sympathetic look as well. She wasn't overly concerned about all the formalities; they were logical considering the history of Vulcan, and she had an "insiders" perspective of the history considering her heritage. But she could understand why, to a human, such formalities could be perceived as "too much." Elonat patted his hand and nodded before turning her eyes back to the window before them. They were close enough to the surface now to see moving figures.

"You remember the _ta'al_?" T'Pol didn't bother looking over to Elonat to confirm; she was too busy typing up stuff on her PADD.

Elonat nodded, "I also know that the good of the many outweighs the good of the few and in infinite diversity, there are infinite combinations." She did get T'Pol's notice then and gave the woman a small smile. "And when all rational solutions refuse to fit the available facts then we must seek an irrational solution that does. Perhaps," Elonat felt a thrill of inward satisfaction when T'Pol lowered the PADD altogether to stare at Elonat, "that is why Vulcans do not consider it a lie to keep the truth to oneself."

Hayes had done her a favor and given her unrestricted access to the Vulcan database the _Enterprise_ had been given, and during her self-imposed history lessons, she'd made it a point to brush up on as much Vulcan history as she had access to. She couldn't give Hayes and the database all credit, however. Her grandfather had done his best to teach her about his culture, though he'd made a greater effort to do so with her father. By the time she'd come around, the world was so unstable that it hadn't been logical to dwell on the past; especially when it seemed that none of them would have a future.

"Your studies will serve you well in this transition," T'Pol commented after a time, "only do not expect praise from those you will be lodging with during your time here. The _Reldai_ priestesses have never encountered a human before, let alone," T'Pol glanced at Elonat, but Elonat kept her smile despite the allusion to her differences that would be seen as distasteful to the Vulcans.

They were saved further small talk, or lecture, by finally coming to a stop, with the telltale sounds of docking echoing in the shuttle. T'Pol stood and immediately moved to the door. She nodded to Mayweather, and within seconds the shuttle was filled with thick, nearly oppressive heat. Even T'Pol, who had been onboard for so long, had a momentary pause at the change. Elonat touched Brenna's elbow when the woman swayed upon standing.

"You don't need to escort me out there," Elonat looked over to Hayes and Mayweather, "that's why T'Pol is here."

Mayweather came forward and offered his arms in a hug. Elonat smiled and took it; it was brief and cordial. He went back to his seat and set about making preparations for the return to the _Enterprise_. When Elonat looked back to Hayes and Brenna both her friends seemed resolute in going onto the docking area with her. Hayes even stepped to the side and made an old fashioned bowing gesture, complete with a winking smile. Elonat sighed and gave a smile as well before preceding her friends off the shuttle.

Phlox had not been joking about the heat and the atmosphere. Elonat felt heavier and more sluggish almost immediately once she was on the smooth surface of the docking area. Just in front of her stood a half-dozen officials all wearing long robes—the kind her grandfather had worn during her grandmother's funeral. T'Pol was handing the PADD over to one of them when they noticed Elonat's presence. And not for the first time in her life, Elonat was keenly aware of a deep and invasive perusal of her personage. All eyes were taking in the details of her borrowed Star Fleet uniform, her double-plaited hair, her pointed ears and slanted eyebrows, and her bright eyes. She was not so adept at discerning Vulcan facial expressions yet—at least not ones that hadn't spent as much time on Earth as her grandfather—and so could not read the various micro-expressions that began to play out on the faces of those standing before her.

"A frosty lot for a desert planet," Brenna's voice near Elonat's ear was a comfort and it brought a smile to her face.

Almost as soon as the Vulcan officials saw her smile, or perhaps it was the presence of her human friends, the neutral micro-expressions on most faces turned to obvious disdain. T'Pol gestured for Elonat to come forward and as she did so, she heard and felt Hayes and Brenna fall into step just behind her shoulders at her sides. T'Pol didn't look too happy with their presence either but didn't say anything to them. Instead, she returned her attention to the officials and finished explaining whatever it was she'd been explaining before. They spoke in their native tongue and so aside from the dozen or so words T'Pol had already taught her, and also those few she remembered from her grandfather's teaching, she hadn't a clue what was being said. What she did know, however, was that a bout of nausea was beginning to roil around in her stomach. She felt her body sway ever so slightly.

"Elonat," whispering at her side, Hayes lightly touched Elonat's elbow, aware of the eyes still staring at them, "are you feeling ill?"

"It may just be the temperature," she looked at Hayes over her shoulder and gave him a reassuring nod, "I should be okay in a minute or two."

Hayes didn't look happy but kept quiet. T'Pol finally spoke Elonat's name, including her grandfather's clan's name, indicating that now was the time to step forward and give the traditional greeting. Elonat swallowed a ball of bile and tried to ignore the cold sweat that had begun to coat her skin. She stepped forward and almost immediately regretted doing so as a wave of dizziness traveled up from her toes to her head and made her feel like she was spinning like a top. She managed to lift her right hand and separated her fingers appropriately.

"Live long," her vision began to grow bleary, and only the face of T'Pol and the Vulcan man standing closest to her were still clear enough to focus on, "and prosper."

The man nodded to her and flashed the greeting in return, "Welcome to Vulcan _T'sai_ Elonat." The deep, sober tone of his voice reminded her of her grandfather's. "These," he gestured to the surrounding officials, "are representatives from the medical and science staffs who will be assisting you. In time they will make themselves known to you." Elonat tried to keep herself from offering the Vulcan men indicated a polite smile but failed, causing some of them to look uncomfortable again. Elonat returned her gaze to the neutral expression of man before her. "And I," he stepped closer but still not nearly as close as a human might stand, "am _Osu_ Soval. I will do whatever I can to make sure that your time on Vulcan is," he paused as if trying to think of the appropriate descriptive word, "agreeable."

Elonat nodded and opened her mouth to reply, but nausea overtook her. To her horror and shame, without warning a stream of vomit erupted from her mouth. Most of it flowed down her own face and coated her borrowed uniform but some of it, she saw through bleary eyes, had managed to splatter on Soval's robes. She reached forward in apology but lost her footing in her own vomit, and went crashing into his arms. He had a strong grip and did not let her fall to the ground as she'd half-expected him to given their dislike of touching, and of her it seemed.

"I'm sorry," she gasped as she tried to pull herself out of his arms, "I know you don't like," she felt ill again and managed to twist so that she vomited directly on the ground and not further on either him or herself. He continued to hold onto her, which was again surprising to her. "I'm so sorry…"

She lost the rest of her strength then and went limp. Elonat was vaguely aware of Hayes and Brenna calling to her but it seemed from a far off place. She was also semi-aware of weightlessness as if she were being carried, and she felt the vibrations against her cheek of a deep voice being spoken above her, but after a few more impressions of sounds and smells, Elonat drifted into a strange place of darkness.


	11. Vulcan Discourse

_Thank you for your continued support and interest in this story. Again, my take on Vulcans comes from a variety of online sources I'd be happy to share if you are preparing to write your own Vulcan-centric fanfic. If you have any requests for future scenes or character, of even song prompts, please leave them in a review. Thank you again and cheers!_

* * *

Elonat was vaguely aware of a cool hand pressing against her forehead. She heard a voice and distractedly connected it to that of her friend Brenna's, but the words made no sense, and the voice was disembodied. For a time, she drifted in a strange world of weightlessness mixed with absolute pressure until another hand, this one harder and stronger, laid itself upon her shoulder. She turned towards it moaning but again the voice, was it Hayes?, was too far away to discern the words. Elonat felt a panic then. She needed to understand what they were saying; she needed to come back to say goodbye.

Of course, being semi-conscious she was not aware of how her panic had her arms and body flailing around on the biobed so violently that her body tipped off entirely and would've crashed to the floor if it had not been for the joint efforts of Hayes and the ambassador. Neither was she aware of the reluctant looks of both her friends as they retreated to the doorway of the medical room the ambassador had carried her to after she'd fainted. She would be told later, in logical and succinct terms, that her companions had delayed their departure far longer than was acceptable by regulations and it had taken an order directly from T'Pol, and through her from the captain himself, to get them to leave her side. These things Elonat would be told later but for the time they happened, Elonat was only partially aware of voices, of devices being pressed into her body, of hands reluctantly and briefly touching her only as much as necessary to change her out of her soiled Star Fleet uniform and into the plain gown that patients on Vulcan wore.

She would also be told, by Soval, that at various times for the following two days mostly her grandfather Mestral, but even at times her father Muroc, would take control of her body and talk with those in the room with her. Elonat's body had to be restrained because as Mestral, being home after so many centuries, had been nearly too much to take, and if it hadn't been for the timely arrival of the ambassador and his aide Tos, the medical staff would not have been able to restrain her due to her Augment strength. It had taken the ambassador, Tos, and one other aide working together to get her back onto the biobed and into restraints. And even then, they'd had to reinforce the restraints and introduce new ones to counteract Elonat's strength. As Mestral, she'd demanded a meeting with her clan mother; she'd demanded freedom from Elonat's body. As Muroc she'd been almost shy, inquisitive about living relatives, and inquisitive about Vulcan itself. All these things thoroughly disturbed the medical staff to such a degree that two out of five assigned directly to Elonat's care requested reassignment after the first day.

By the time Elonat herself regained control of her consciousness, and her body, she'd already made a strong enough impression that when she opened her eyes on the third day, she found herself restrained from her head to her toes with only one medical staff member in the room monitoring her biosigns. Elonat still felt like hell. Her head pounded and it felt as if every muscle and joint in her body was on fire. An elephant might as well have been lying on her chest, so every breath was labored. Mouth dry, Elonat licked her lips and looked over to the medical staff member.

"Excuse me." Her voice was raw as if she'd yelled but as far as she knew she'd been unconscious.

The medical staff member looked up at her voice, and her phraseology, and observed her silently for a more prolonged moment than Elonat would've expected. When she did speak it was to ask, "Are you _T'sai_ Elonat?"

"Yes," Elonat raised an eyebrow, "who else would I be?"

The medical staff member didn't answer. Instead, she went to the wall and after pressing a button spoke in Vulcan to whoever was listening on the other side. When she finished, she returned to Elonat's side but just out of reach—not that Elonat could reach for her due to the restraints.

"May I have some water?" Elonat's throat was burning now.

The Vulcan woman looked reluctant to get her anything, but after a moment of thought, she filled a special syringe and all but shot it down Elonat's throat when Elonat opened her mouth. Though the bedside manner was lacking, at least she had some liquid, and for now, that was enough. The Vulcan woman didn't seem interested in spending any more time with her than was required, and so once Elonat's thirst was quenched she wandered away to jot some notes down onto a PADD, leaving Elonat to her increasing headache and physical discomfort.

She closed her eyes and tried to fall back asleep, not knowing when it would be when whomever it was the medical staff member had contacted would arrive. Doing so didn't alleviate any of her pain, however, but it did help her feel like she had a little more control over her present circumstances than she otherwise had. And it was in this dark place that she felt her grandfather and father move forward again, both of them almost in a threatening manner, reminding her that she was not the sole occupant of her body at this time. Every decision she made she had to make sure it was fair to their _katra_ s as well as to her child. Elonat's eyes flew open, and she tried to reach for her stomach. Her hands rattled in the restraints, the noise catching the attention and trepidatious look from the medical staff member.

"My child," Elonat looked at the woman with wide and concerned eyes, "is my child healthy? Stable?"

The Vulcan woman wasn't the one who answered Elonat's question. "Your child is sufficiently stable given the nature of your present condition." It was the deep voice she'd felt vibrating through her body soon after she'd fallen ill at the docking bay. Elonat felt a blush creep up her neck and reach her cheeks as she turned her gaze to the entrance of the room and rested her eyes on the form of the ambassador. "The _reldai_ advise that we perform the necessary ceremony as soon as possible to avoid permanent damage to yourself," Soval's traveled briefly to her stomach then back up to her face, and she thought she saw a microexpression of disgust cross his face, "or your child."

Elonat fought against an illogical urge to lash out at him. It could have just been her perception, his look of disgust, and she was not feeling the best and so wasn't in the best condition to make accurate assessments. However, given what she'd learned from the database Hayes had given her access to, Vulcans did tend towards a superiority complex, and there was a long-standing hatred between Vulcans and their distant relations the Romulans. It could be that the ambassador was disgusted by her humanity and by her audacity to copulate with a Romulan. Elonat thought these things all in a moment and swallowed the burning words she yearned to say. Given her inability to control her own movements now, it would be best to remain at least polite and cooperative.

When she did speak it was in an equally measured and monotone voice with a facial expression even more neutral than that of the ambassador, "Thank you for the information, _s'haile_ Soval, and for the care." Her eyes darted to the Vulcan woman, who notably avoided eye contact. "I apologize for the inconvenience my illness may have caused. When may we have the ceremony? I do not wish to retain the _katra_ s of my family any longer than is necessary and I know," she winced despite her best efforts to control her outward demeanor when her grandfather whirled forward in her head and she pictured him beating against her skull, "that they too wish to join their ancestors in the halls of the temple."

The ambassador tipped his head to the side, as if he noticed her choice for control over emotionality, and observed her a silent moment before he came forward to stand closer at her bedside. Shadowing behind him was another Vulcan male and Elonat could only assume that it was his aide.

"Your consciousness has not been in control for the past two days." Elonat raised an eyebrow in question, and again it looked as if the ambassador didn't quite know what to do with her response. "Your restraints are the result of your grandfather's _katra_ taking control of your body on your first day here. He was most," Soval looked into the distance in his search for the right word, "insistent that we bring his clan mother here to expedite the ceremony for extraction. Your father's _katra_ was less insistent, but he too wanted more freedom of movement than the medical staff assessed was healthy for your body."

"I cannot apologize for the words or behaviors of either my grandfather or father. It was wise to add the extra restraints." Elonat glanced down her body then back up to Soval. "May I be released now that I am back in control of my own self again?"

Soval looked over to the medical staff member, and though she looked the Vulcan equivalent to reluctant, it took only a few moments more before the restraints retracted into the bed and Elonat was free to move again. She certainly wouldn't be moving far, or fast, any time soon, but it was noticeably better being able to shift on the bed without coming against a barrier. She pushed her hands against the biobed and moved her body upward to sit up.

Once she was up, however, the world spun, and she nearly tipped off the side of the bed. A pair of strong hands grabbed hold of her shoulders and quickly righted her body before pulling back as soon as they'd come forward. Elonat looked up to the ambassador and smiled a small smile of thanks, giving him a head nod of acknowledgment in the process. The medical staff member came up then and pressed a device against her skin. Almost immediately, Elonat was breathing better and feeling lighter.

"Until your body acclimates to Vulcan, we will need to administer doses of an agonistic serum twice a day. Treatments vary according to demographics," the Vulcan woman spoke quickly, as if she couldn't wait to be away from Elonat's side, "and based on your bioscans you should acclimate within one week."

Elonat nodded, "Thank you. Is there a way I can administer the medicine myself?" The Vulcan woman blinked at her before looking to the ambassador as if for help in answering. Elonat explained, "So that you and the rest of the staff may be relieved of care for me." Both the ambassador and the Vulcan woman stared at her. "As much as possible I would prefer to be independent in my care to not inconvenience others." Before either could logic that a medical staff member taking care of someone with medical needs was not an inconvenience, Elonat again pressed. "I understand that my genetic makeup and very presence may be perceived as distasteful if not offensive to some." The Vulcan woman's eyes fell conveniently to her PADD while the ambassador did his head tipping move again. "I have a long history of such responses, and though Vulcans are a race that embraces logic, I know personally that Vulcans also have emotions and opinions that are not always connected to logic." Soval seemed to inch closer and at the same time pressed his hands together in a move she'd seen her grandfather do when he was holding his own tongue while listening to another speak. "I have no interest in spending excessive amounts of time with individuals who find my presence repulsive. I still have human emotions and, because of that, excessive exposure to such passive-aggressive ridicule is very draining and can often result in psychosomatic illnesses that could otherwise be prevented. If, by my gaining enough knowledge and know-how, I can maintain a sense of independence during my time here on Vulcan and also better control when I will be exposed to the possibility of such a response, I believe the working relationships that will be required of all of us will fare more effectively and peaceably."

The Vulcan woman looked to the ambassador again, and at his nod, she returned her gaze to Elonat, "We will supply you with the necessary equipment and directions. However, due to your condition," her eyes darted to Elonat's belly, and again she saw a microexpression of disgust, "we advise that for as long as you are on Vulcan that you come to us for scans and tests to ensure that your child is developing as it should."

"Understood." Elonat gave a deep nod, letting the Vulcan woman know she appreciated the compromise and also that she was dismissed if she wanted to leave them. Elonat looked back to the ambassador and caught him staring again at her stomach, but at her notice, he shifted his eyes back to her face. He still seemed to have something he wanted to say. "Am I perceiving your body language correctly, _s'haile_ Soval, in that you have an opinion you wish to share regarding what I just said and requested?"

Soval nodded, "Your assessment is correct. And," he surprised her by grabbing hold of the chair sitting against the wall by her bed and moving it so he could sit down facing her—she'd expected him to make his aide do it, "if you so wish you may call me _osu_. As you mentioned earlier, you are not fully Vulcan, and neither were you raised in a Vulcan fashion, so I do not expect you to use the honorifics of our culture."

"Would a native Vulcan switch to _osu_ at your telling them they could, or would they maintain the higher honorific?"

"I cannot speak for all Vulcans, but those that I know would, and have, switched when given the indication." Soval glanced over to Tos who nodded in confirmation. " _T'sai_ Elonat, given your earlier words, it does not sound to me like you are interested in pursuing a life here on Vulcan. Is this true?"

Elonat smiled at him and observed as the lines around his eyes deepened in the tiniest of expressions in response—though what that indicated she couldn't tell, "You may call me Elonat if you so wish." Soval gave a formal nod. "And I will answer your question with one of my own: based off your understanding of current Vulcan culture and societal trends, do you believe I would be welcomed here by the marginal few or by the majority?"

Soval was quiet for a time, and Elonat appreciated the fact that he seemed to be giving it adequate thought instead of giving her an appeasing answer.

"Not to appear 'argumentative' as a human acquaintance described such dialogue as we are having, but may I ask where you believe you would be accepted by the majority and not just the marginal few?"

Elonat couldn't help herself. She laughed. It was a quick almost bark of a laugh, but it was a laugh. It took the Vulcan woman by surprise, and she nearly dropped the PADD she'd been furiously typing on in the corner. And it seemed to have surprised Tos as well. Only Soval seemed to be unperturbed by the sound, and Elonat equated that to the fact that he was the ambassador to Earth after all and would be more accustomed to emotional outbursts.

" _Osu_ , you have asked an excellent question, and I can answer that so far in my lifetime, both before the cryogenic sleep and after, there has been no such place."

Soval nodded, "Would you prefer to be on Earth?"

"I honestly don't know," Elonat sighed, "Earth in this time is as foreign to me as Vulcan in many regards. I do not know if I have any living relatives there, just as I don't know if I have any living relatives here. Between the two, I believe it is far more likely that there will be family here." Soval nodded as if he already had the answer to the question she hadn't yet asked. "However, just because a person is blood related does not mean that they have to _feel_ connected to them. I understand Vulcan culture values quite highly familial ties and obligations," Soval nodded again, and again Elonat sighed, "and while I appreciate that and respect that, at the same time my human side does not wish to be in a place I am not wanted. Immature and illogical, that emotion might be, it is still a strong sentiment inside me. It ranks as highly as the sentiment of being needed."

Soval raised an eyebrow, "Needed? I do not follow."

"An old theory of human psychology stated that after a human's physiological needs for food, shelter, sleep, and the like come a human's safety needs, namely personal safety but also good health and resources from which they could build up their desired environment. The next need is for relationships: spouse, family, friendships, basically a general sense of connection. Once these needs were met, humans could then feel appropriate levels of self-esteem, freedom and confidence, and self-respect. This, the theory stated, would result in a human that would strive to be the most that he or she could be because that human, with all its physiological and emotional needs met, would have the self-actualization and intrinsic motivation to make changes, either in self or in community, for proactive growth."

Soval nodded and was silent for a time. When he did speak, it was with measured words, "What you have explained to me had shed light on more than a few interactions I have had with humans in the past."

"I'm glad I could be of assistance." Elonat smiled. "That is what I did, in my time, I was a conduit for learning, aka a teacher. I taught a variety of classes, but my personal favorites were psychology and behavioral science." She suddenly sighed, "I'm not certain Vulcan would need a such a teacher. Especially considering all my training is for and about humans."

Soval nodded again, and there seemed to be a small expression of pondering on his face, "You suppose that if you stayed on Vulcan only your physiological and safety needs would be met, but none of your others would be. Am I correct?"

"One-hundred percent correct." Elont smiled. "You're a quick learner." Soval shifted in his chair as if trying to dodge her compliment or wave it aside as illogical. "I understand there's no guarantee that I would have these other needs met on Earth either but, having grown up on Earth, I have experience with humans and know that I would have a proven possibility of forming close relationships with fellow humans. I am not trying to say that it isn't possible to form a close relationship with a Vulcan," Eloant chuckled, and this resulted in Soval's eyebrow-raising, "I'm living proof that it IS possible for a human and a Vulcan to share more than a mere friendship. But my grandfather lived in isolation from the rest of his culture and perhaps, because of that, felt more inclined to form such relationships than those on their native planet and in their native culture."

Soval was again silent for some time. During that time Elonat allowed her eyes to roam more freely over his personage. He was strong; she remembered his grip both when she fell into his arms at the docking bay and also earlier this very day, and he carried himself with confidence. There also seemed to be an element of care about him that reminded her vaguely of her grandfather. As if he was a part of the culture around him and yet had the mindset or interest in those things that were different from his culture. That would make sense; after all, he was an ambassador to an alien planet. He was also, in his own way, attractive. Strong jawline and cheekbones, wide forehead, broad shoulders, thick hair: all evolutionary evidence of a preferred partner. Elonat smirked inwardly. She hadn't been trying to assess the ambassador's potential for herself but now that she'd taken note of those features—

"You have spoken succinctly and, I believe, your initial thoughts are adequately reflective of the current trends on Vulcan. There would be some who would do more than tolerate you, and they would seek to form friendships with you. Some might even find you to be a suitable mate." At Elonat's look, it seemed as if Soval's lips tugged a bit in a small expression of amusement. "You must know that your grandfather, Mestral, was a member of a distinguished clan. One of his living relatives, a cousin so to speak, is currently serving in the government. Her name is T'Pau, and she has been instrumental in several recent changes that have been monumental for all of Vulcan. You were right in that Vulcans highly value familial ties and, regardless of how they _feel_ ," he put a strange emphasis on the word, and it made Elonat smile, "they will acknowledge you publicly, and from that time forward any match with you would be in turn a match into your clan."

Elonat groaned, feeling her headache return at the thought, and dropped her head into her hands. She heard Soval shift in his seat, and a moment later, in her peripherals, she saw a glass of water being held out to her. Lifting her head, she gave him another thankful smile/nod combination, before drinking the entire glass. When Elonat looked over to Tos she thought she saw a look of surprise cross his face, but she couldn't pinpoint what it would be that would surprise him. She was thirsty.

"What you've just explained seems to be even more reason to retreat from Vulcan. I'm so used to being passed over as a potential _mate_ ," she used his term and couldn't help but trip over the word, "that the idea of having to sift through the authenticity of suitors makes my head ache."

Soval said nothing but she saw that his eyes moved briefly down her body to rest on her stomach. Elonat blushed at the irony of what she'd just said. She laid back against the pillows of the biobed and heaved another heavy sigh. She stared off into the distance and after a moment found herself speaking easily, as if to a friend, and the words tumbled out of her faster than she could remember who it was she was talking to and where she was at the time.

"I want to learn more about Vulcan culture and Vulcan ways. As my child will have a Vulcan heritage, I want them to have as much information as possible about that. Though, additionally, I will also teach them about Romulan and human cultures. I would rather my child grow up with the good, the bad, and the ugly of all three cultures than try to hide anything deemed 'shameful' and thereby create a hubris for future decisions." Once she finished, Elonat glanced at Soval to try to gauge his response.

Soval again sounded as if he measured his words carefully when he finally replied, "Will you also teach them about their Augment heritage?"

Elonat frowned. Had he not been briefed about how she'd ended up with Augment DNA? Or was he asking out of mere curiosity? She chose to assume the latter, as the former assumption would make it more challenging to work with him.

"Yes, as I said the good, the bad, and the ugly of all cultures involved in their heritage." She suddenly leaned forward as an idea struck her, "Would it be possible to live at the Vulcan embassy on Earth, at least for a time?"

Soval, despite his Vulcan heritage, looked surprised for a moment, "Why would you wish to live there?"

"Don't you see? It would allow me the access and freedom to learn about Vulcan ways, and it would give Vulcan doctors access to me as I know without anyone telling me that for as long as I continue to exist doctors from both Earth and Vulcan will want to study me. And by it being on Earth, I would also have the freedom and opportunity to find my own place in society again, amongst a culture I know to be more readily amiable to outsiders."

Tos made a noise then, and it seemed both Elonat and Soval were surprised by the reminder of his presence. He said a few words in Vulcan to the ambassador, and after Soval nodded, Tos left the room. Soval stood up and replaced the chair against the wall. He folded his hands together in front of him and again looked more formal than amiable as, for a time, he'd almost been companionable to her. Their easy exchange had brought back memories of conversations with both her father and grandfather.

"I will contemplate on the matter more and give you my reply once I have come to a decision. For now, I must go. The _reldai_ will be made aware of your improvement and will make the necessary arrangements. I cannot tell you for certain when the ceremony will be, but I can tell you that once the medical staff issues clearance for your removal, you will be transferred to your grandfather's clan's house. Their lands are in a different province, but they do have a family house here that will receive you."

Elonat frowned, "Did you ask them to do this?"

"No," Soval gave the closest equivalent to a smile and Elonat felt a strange warmth touch her heart at the sight, "once Vulcan was informed of your existence, and then that of the _katra_ s, the clan was contacted. Before your arrival, they informed the consulate that they would take care of your needs for as long as you remained on Vulcan. T'Pau was the one who communicated this to me directly."

Elonat was both surprised and humbled. Maybe her earlier harsh assessment of Vulcans and their treatment towards her was off-base. Just then the Vulcan woman came back and spoke to Soval, never bothering to acknowledge Eloant's presence. Then again, maybe her assessment wasn't too far off as a whole.

"The equipment for your care will also be sent to your clan's house upon your discharge. Which I have been told will be tomorrow." Soval nodded to the medical staff member who again made herself scarce. "I take my leave of you, Elonat. Live long and prosper." He gave her the traditional salute and she automatically did it in return.

"The same to you, _osu_ Soval. And thank you." At Soval's questioning eyebrow raise Elonat smiled. "For giving me your time and attention. It satisfied one of my needs." She refrained from winking, not knowing if he'd understand what it meant, but she did allow the camaraderie tone to enter her voice.

Soval gave her a deep nod after one more assessing look, and then he left. It was then that Elonat felt keenly the fatigue that had been building up throughout their conversation. Knowing that the Vulcan woman had no interesting in talking, Elonat settled herself back into a lying position and let sleep overtake her once more.


	12. When Things Go Wrong Be On Vulcan

_Thank you for your continued support and interest in this story. Please feel free to leave a review of a desired character appearance or scene. Thank you and cheers!_

* * *

Elonat first became aware of nothingness, or rather a deep sensation consisting of nothingness. She had no sense of dimension, no sense of time, no sense of bodily awareness. It was as if she lay once more in the cryogenic chamber only with her consciousness allowed to be alert. While at first, she felt nothing but curiosity at these sensations, or rather lack thereof, after a few moments of consciousness and still no bodily sensations, she began to feel panic creep into her. She knew instinctively that something was wrong. Something had gone wrong at the ritual. But what? And, where was she?

 _T'sai, please refrain from feeling panic._

Elonat would have turned in circles had she a body to do so. Clearly, in all parts of her consciousness, she heard and FELT the voice of the ambassador. But where was he? She could see nothing, feel nothing, and yet here she had heard his voice. She tried to do as he'd asked and refrain for panicking but the very fact that she couldn't see anything, couldn't feel anything, had her again fighting the tidal wave of fear.

 _You are not harmed, t'sai._ The voice sounded again. _I will explain things as I am able. However, please, refrain from panicking. It will not help either of us._

She was confused. How was her panic a hindrance to Soval?

 _Perhaps THIS will help you._ Suddenly the darkness around her was gone and she found herself in the middle of a desert with only a distant red sea a change in the landscape. She did not feel the heat of the overhead sun nor did she feel the sand as it kicked up skirted over the dune around her on a breeze. Though she felt nothing she was there nonetheless. It was a foreign and strange scene and did nothing to assuage her panic; it'd merely distracted her. _Or, rather, may I access your memory to find a suitable place for you?_

Elonat was once more confused but since she didn't know what the hell was going on she did her best to think of "consent" since she had no vocal cords to say it so. It was only then that she felt something, or rather someone, move inside what consciousness she had. It was similar yet different to the feeling she'd had when her grandfather or father had moved with their _katra_ s. Only instead of the a heavy pressure like an iron weight laying across her head, it felt more like a silken cloth brushing over her mind. It was strange yet not wholly unwelcome. And it was over almost as quickly as it'd begun.

 _I see now._ Soval's voice sounded again and after another moment the scene around her changed until it resembled the mountains and forest closest to her home on Earth. It was a sunset scene and she could hear the sound of the wind creaking through the trees and rustling the grass just as clearly as she could hear the howl of a coyote somewhere off in the mountains behind her. _This is more to your liking?_ Elonat would've cried had she eyes to shed tears. In all this time since awakening with Terra Prime, she hadn't paused long enough to think of the things of home that she missed, the things that most likely no longer existed. This simple scene was one such thing and though bittersweet, being surrounded by the familiar scene and sounds, did much to help the tension of fear loosen. _I have never seen a place like this before. I thank you for sharing it with me_.

Elonat pulled herself together better and refocused. Why was it that she could be transported from a scene that was most likely Vulcan, since Soval seemed to be the one "steering" these images, to one of her home and all without her having a body? What had gone so terribly wrong in the ritual? Was she dead? Elonat felt the fear begin again. And what of her baby?

 _T'sai-_ Elonat just wanted to hear her name. No more formalities, no more barriers. She was too tired and weary for that. _Elonat_ , Soval's voice seemed to soften as he spoke more, _you are not dead, and neither is your child. You are correct that there were complications during the ritual but nothing so dire that cannot be rectified. With time._

Elonat wanted nothing more than to feel her body again, to reach out and be able to touch the scene around her, maybe even hug herself as she listened to Soval's explanation. But as it were she might as well have been a floating ball of energy, she had nothing but thoughts.

 _I will do what I can to reconstruct your body._ Elonat was confused by his words but remained as still in thought as possible, not wanting to accidentally distract the Vulcan. She had not a clue how much time went by before suddenly she felt the ground beneath her. She looked down and saw her hands, her arms, her body. She reached up and ran her hands over her face and hair. She laughed and the sound echoed through the scene around her. _Although there are certain details I have not gotten accurate, will this suffice?_

 **Of course, it will suffice _._** Elonat grasped at her throat and smiled. She could talk again. **Where am I?**

 _You are inside my head._ Elonat was shocked; she hadn't expected that answer. _During the extraction process, your body went into shock. The reldai believed the only way to save your katra and also your body, and that of your baby was to temporarily withdraw you from your body. That way your body could heal itself without your consciousness pushing through your neural pathways too soon. As I am the most knowledgeable of human psyche among the Vulcans at this time and was readily available during this process, they appointed me as the carrier of your katra. When your body has healed itself they will remove your katra from my mind and reinstate you within your own body._

 **And my baby?**

 _Your child has been unharmed by this process, though the baby was one reason why they believed your removal was imperative. Any more shocks to your system, be it neurological of physiological, and they believe the baby will be miscarried._

 **How long will I remain here**?

Soval did not answer right away. To keep herself from panicking again, as she didn't know what it was that kept him from answering and she certainly didn't want her emotions to get in the way, Elonat stood up and walked through the tall grass, relishing the feel of the undulated stalks dancing across her palms. She didn't walk far though as it seemed that this scene repeated itself, or at least ended then restarted as if it were a computer program that hadn't been programmed to have extensions. Elonat supposed that it was because Soval had only spent a brief time in her memories and had reconstructed only as much was needed to get her to calm down.

 _The reldai believe it will be best if you remain as you are for the remainder of your pregnancy._

Elonat stopped. **You mean, I will need to live inside your mind for the next nine months?**

 _They will induce your labor towards the end of your seventh month and the baby will be placed in an incubation chamber for the last two months to allow your katra time to reintegrate into your body completely before you will be needed to care for the baby._

That meant seven months of being stuck inside Soval's head. **Do you feel everything I feel even when I'm here, like this?**

 _Yes._

Elonat bit her lip. **Do you hear my thoughts?**

 _I can sense an impression of them, yes. I have not and will not force myself inside your mind, however; that is why I asked your permission to access your memories so that I may create a scene more suitable for your relaxation. So in truth, your thoughts are your own, and once you learn how to keep your feelings reigned in, even in this state, those too may remain private._

Elonat sighed. **I'm sorry, Soval.**

She realized she'd called him by his first name and made ready to apologize but he cut her off by saying, _You have done nothing wrong, Elonat. No could have foreseen this event._

 **True.** She smiled and hugged herself. **Thank you, Soval. I know this has not been easy so far. I promise I will learn to control my emotions better and keep things to myself better so as to not inconvenience you.**

 _That is appreciated._

Elonat smiled. Funny how he didn't try to placate her statement. A sudden thought had her asking, **Are you able to still function normally, even with me here?**

It took a few more moments before Soval answered, _I am still seeing to my duties. When I am speaking with you here, I am unable to speak with anyone else, though I am able to multitask in body. It is much the same as if I were speaking with you through a comm link._ He was quiet a moment longer but again spoke up before Elonat could, _If you have need, I can construct more scenes for you. That way you can have greater freedom of 'movement.'_

Elonat laughed and nodded. This was going to be strange, difficult, and yet rewarding all at the same time. She was certain in the coming months both she and Soval would at times wish the other to another quadrant in the galaxy but at the same time of all the people she'd met on Vulcan, his was the only mind she wouldn't mind getting stuck in. And who knew, maybe getting thrust inside a Vulcan's head would help her understand her own heritage better?

 _I will endeavor to do what I can to teach you what you wish to know about Vulcans, Elonat_. Elonat startled, having momentarily forgotten that if she didn't make an effort then Soval could hear and feel all from her. _And I too will appreciate any lessons you wish to share regarding humans._

Elonat laughed, **You and me both, Soval. I can give you history and analysis but my experiences are very unique unto myself and may not serve you well when interacting with others.**

Soval was silent for a time before he responded, _I understand._

Elonat looked around the scene and breathed deeply. It even smelled accurate. She looked up to the sky as if Soval's face would be there, **You can access my memories for more information on places I like. If I'm going to be in here for the next seven months, then I'd like a bigger cage** _._

 _It is not meant to be a cage-_ Soval interrupted his own sentence when Elonat began laughing. _You were in jest_. He said it as a statement and that only made Elonat laugh harder.

 **Consider that your first lesson.**

She thought she heard a tinge of amusement in his voice when he replied, _Indeed._


	13. If I Had A Body

_Thank you again for your reviews. Feel free to give me song prompts, character appearance requests, scene prompts, and the like. I am taking some liberties with Soval's backstory. Cheers!_

* * *

It had taken them a shaky three weeks, nearly more than that, to create enough scenes for Elonat to "browse" through to keep her occupied so that she didn't project her thoughts or emotions onto Soval's consciousness. Knowing now the effort that Soval went through to create such a comfortable place for her made Elonat regret not knowing she'd had this same ability. She could have done this for her grandfather and her father but instead, she'd left them to drift in her mind without form or place. She was thankful they were now residing in their proper places among the _reldai_.

For Elonat to learn how not to project her thoughts and emotions, it had taken almost two months. Almost daily Soval had had to remind Elonat to rein in her emotions and thoughts as they were proving to be a distraction for Soval. He'd never been unkind in his reminders and it seemed to Elonat that on at least two separate occasions he'd made an almost human attempt to thank her for her transparency as it was giving him much fodder for his studies on humans. Of course, every Vulcan praise could be taken as a backhanded insult, but Elonat had grown used to the nuances of Soval's reasoning. She heard his voice and recognized the deeper meanings, either directly or indirectly, as had been the case on a few separate occasions when he'd let his own mind slip and she'd been given flashes of his thoughts.

It was a blessing that when Soval slept, Elonat's own consciousness seemed to rest in a fashion. Of course, being without corporeal body, Elonat still on occasion managed to "float" about in Soval's mind at those times. She tried not to stray from her own scenes but had, quite by accident, found that while Soval slept she could move into his mind and his space. The first time had surprised her as she'd found herself reliving a memory of people and places completely unknown to her. It had been a memory of a military excursion and in it, she'd felt emotions not her own: regret, guilt, pain. As soon as Elonat had registered what was going on—that Soval was dreaming a memory—she'd retreated to her own scenes. She hadn't brought up the trespass to Soval and in his interactions with her after, it seemed he'd been unaware of it.

Now halfway through the third month of their semi-voluntary imprisonment of sorts, Elonat found it harder and harder to keep to her own scenes while Soval slept. It wasn't as if she was purposefully tempting herself either; more and more the boundaries between her scenes and his were becoming blurred during his sleeping hours and only within the past few days had it happened where within her own scene his dreams had begun to take place. She wondered if he knew what was happening; if he was now dreaming of places and people who existed in her mind and not his, but that the two were combining into one false dream. Elonat hesitated to ask him. During his waking hours whenever she did tentatively reach out to "touch" his mind outside her scenes she sensed a resoluteness and fatigue and she surmised that he was battling many things in his vocation that he didn't let her know about.

And it had become a routine for them to voluntarily exchange cordial conversations at least once during the day. Typically it would begin with Soval updating Elonat on her body as well as her baby's progress, even allowing Elonat access to seeing things through his own eyes—and that had been a strange yet thrilling experience. She had noticed, every time he did this as the days had progressed, that the image of her body seemed to alter every time he gave her access to viewing herself through his own eyes. Yes, of course, there was the expected physical change of her pregnancy, but it also seemed almost as if the flaws she readily saw in her own reflection were dimming. It was strange and it made Elonat wonder if Soval himself was becoming "blind" to her physical flaws the more time they spent together. Was he inadvertently giving her access to his subconscious biases whenever he allowed her to see the world through his eyes?

They exchanges would move from updates on her health to recaps on his day. Of course, this didn't happen every time but he did give in to Elonat's eager inquiries from time to time and delivered succinct reports—as if to a superior officer—of his day. She had less to report but he had surprised her by asking after how she'd occupied herself during the day. By asking this he was proving his word true, her thoughts and emotions were her own so long as she didn't project them and he never invaded her scenes without giving warning. It was a strange yet expected set up between them.

It was also during these conversations that they'd come to exchange memories or insights from their respective cultures. Sometimes in the retelling of his day, Soval would mention a custom that made no sense to Elonat and he would then take time to establish its history and meaning. The same was true for when Elonat would talk about something from her past. For this, however, she most often invited Soval to share her memory with her, believing that for an inquisitive Vulcan, the best way to convey a foreign idea to him would be to relive it with him. And for his part, Soval seemed to "enjoy" this the most. During every memory she shared with him he would ask questions and after the memory was over he would give his assumptions and she would confirm or help him reframe them. It was a very edifying process and though the reasons for her being in Soval's mind were troubling still, Elonat had come to appreciate it greatly.

Yet, all was not well. Elonat grimaced as she felt another wave of heat undulate through her scene. It had only been happening in the past day or so but just as the lines between her scenes and Soval's mind were blurring during his sleeping hours, so had during the day a strange feeling descended upon every one of her scenes. Regardless of what she was doing to occupy herself, without warning a wave of heat and pressure would flow through the scene and leave Elonat feeling strange as if every nerve in her "body" was lit on fire and thrumming. More still, on occasion, an instant of emotion would shoot through the scene like a lightning bolt, intense and mostly rage oriented. Elonat knew that none of these things were coming from herself. She didn't know what was going on in Soval's life that would make him FEEL so strongly and would cause him to act so unguarded but with each passing day, these instances increased in frequency and intensity.

Elonat was reluctant to ask Soval about it as in the same amount of time that these odd occurrences had begun Soval's exchanges with her had become stunted and more brief than usual. It seemed as if he were trying to place them back on a footing of formality as they had been when they'd first met. At first, she'd been hurt by this and hadn't attempted to shield that feeling from him. But now as she reflected on all that had transpired between them and the "growth" they'd both undergone in their three months together, she couldn't help but think her feelings were petty and that she should make a better effort to support Soval in whatever it was that was bothering him. After all, he'd quite literally sacrificed the sacred space of his own mind in order to save her life, and her child's.

With this thought in mind, Elonat moved into one of the scenes Soval had indicated to be a preferred one. It was actually an imagined place for Elonat as well but she'd spent much time here as a child herself. She'd always wanted to travel but had been born in the wrong time to do so, but that had never stopped her from devouring pictures and movies of far-off places. This scene was of a cliffside in Ireland. The wind blew strong and cool, the moist emerald grass waved about, and dropping hundreds of feet down to the choppy Atlantic surf below were dark craggy cliffs. Behind her was a simple white lighthouse, the light turning on as the partly-cloudy sky darkened with dusk. The scene felt wild, semi-dangerous, and yet also peaceful. She wondered why it was that Soval liked this scene so much but every time she'd asked him, he'd been unable, or unwilling, to tell her.

Elonat knew that it was getting close to the time when he'd check in with her, showing her body's progress. He always came first to her scene to "beckon" her into his mind's eye and she hoped that his finding her in this place would soothe whatever it was in his mind that was causing such frustration.

She didn't have to wait long. She'd made two necklaces out of the small wildflowers growing amongst the seagrass by the time she felt his presence with her. Around the second month, they'd both agreed that a projection of his body inside his mind made their exchanges more comfortable and allowed them both, or at least more so for Elonat, to be open and in the moment with their exchanges. Elonat didn't turn to look for him and instead waited, her legs dangling over the side of the cliff, the second flower necklace held loosely in her fingers. Only after his projected image sat down next to her did she chance to look at him. He projected his ideal self, as she'd expect, and so this image did not reflect the emotions she'd expect to see on his face given the number of emotions she'd felt from him. She held out the necklace to him.

"What is that?" He eyed it a moment before taking it from her.

They rarely touched, even in his mind, but whenever they did touch she felt it in a fashion. It was as if somehow the imagined touch reverberated throughout her consciousness. It was always a good sensation but Elonat would never ask for more of it. This time, when he took the necklace, his fingers did brush hers and she felt that vibrating thrill for a moment.

She smiled in response, "A flower necklace. Typically young girls would make these and anklets and bracelets and crowns whenever they'd sit together outside. I've seen them made from tree branches and flowers and grass and just all sorts of things."

"What do they represent?" Soval pulled it closer to his face as he studied the way each flower was connected.

"Nothing that I know of," Elonat shrugged, "maybe the innocence and hope of childhood?"

Soval was silent but she could tell much was going on inside his mind. She felt another flash of heat then and with it pressure. Elonat raised her hand to her chest as she sought to take in air that had grown thick and heavy. She watched as Soval turned to her and his face showed a glimmer of emotion: surprise.

"You felt that?"

Elonat nodded, "Over the past few days it has happened more frequently but yes, at times I'll feel heat or pressure and at times I feel emotions not my own."

"What emotions?" Soval's voice changed in quality and Elonat felt a prickling of trepidation in response.

"Mostly rage but sometimes," she nibbled her lower lip as she wondered if she should be fully honest with him.

Soval leaned his head closer, "What else?"

"A sense of yearning perhaps?"

Soval's projected image suddenly disappeared, as did Elonat's scene. In fact, Elonat's whole body disappeared and she was once more a noncorporeal nothingness inside Soval's mind. What had she done? Elonat reached out in every direction, feeling panic and dismay creeping in. She tried to shield Soval from it but the longer she was without that which she'd grown used to the more she couldn't help but project these feelings. She hadn't meant to bother Soval if that's what she'd done. She'd only wanted to help him. To support him. Especially since he'd already done so much for her. What was it that was frustrating him so much that he'd do this to her, even if it was inadvertent in his own efforts to maintain control?

 _Elonat…_ She felt Soval's voice hum through her and almost immediately at the sound of it she felt some of her fear ease. _I have consulted the reldai and the physicians but the news they have given me does not bode well for either of us._

 **What do you mean?** Elonat worked hard to resist the desire to send out soothing emotions into Soval's mind. She didn't know how he'd respond to that.

 _It is my opinion, and the physicians concur, that due to your additional presence in my mind I have come into my time far earlier than expected._

Elonat had to think. What could he mean by that? He was speaking to her as if she'd know what it was he was referencing. What would it be? She only had to think a moment more before, in a flash, she knew. She'd experienced it herself, though to a far lesser degree than either her father and grandfather and from what they'd told her, full-blooded Vulcan females also experienced the _pon farr_ to a much lesser intensity and frequency than Vulcan males. Elonat was immediately consumed with concern and empathy. Both of these emotions she did allow to freely project into Soval's mind.

 **I am so sorry, Soval.** She knew it was selfish of her to ask for her body and her scenes back now. It must take great mental energy to maintain such things for her and now, at this time, Soval needed all the extra mental capacity as possible to get through. **Is there anything I can do? What do you need me to do?** Soval was quiet and Elonat felt more alone this time than she'd ever felt before in his mind. She let quite a bit of time pass before she spoke again, **I will do everything in my power to isolate myself from your mind when you seek out your mate. I promise I will not pry.**

Elonat felt wry amusement then and she knew instinctively it was not her own. When Soval spoke she heard the frustration in his voice this time, _I have no mate._

Elonat was surprised, and she felt it too quickly to shield Soval. He was quite attractive and well-established. He was not old and was also not young, by Vulcan standards. He had a stable and promising career on Earth and when he retired he had wealthy lands on Vulcan to retire to if he so wished. Why in the world would he not have a mate? Hell, she'd consider him to be a perfectly perfect mate if she were in a Vulcan woman's shoes.

 _Do you really mean that, Elonat?_

Elonat startled. **Shit.** She hadn't shielded any of that. There was no negating now. **Yes, I do. I would expect a man of your age and stature to have a mate and offspring by now.**

 _I did have a mate._ His voice was again filled with emotion and it took Elonat off-guard; she was not used to hearing emotion from him. _She and the child she carried both perished some years ago._ Elonat felt a wave of pain then and she felt it as if it were her own.

 **What happened, Soval?** Not bothering to weigh the pros and cons of her asking or her projections, Elonat sent out a wave of comfort and sincere interest, hoping that it would soothe the pain Soval felt.

Silence replied and Elonat felt disappointment. If he had no mate then what was it he could do? Her grandfather had never quite gone into the details of what a Vulcan man did if he couldn't go to his mate; the only thing he'd mentioned was that if a Vulcan man didn't appropriately deal with his _pon farr_ then he could go mad or die. How did one "appropriately" deal with _pon farr_?

 **Are there temple priestesses that you can seek out to assuage the physical burdens at this time?** Elonat remembered ancient Earth religions where temple priestesses had offered the use of their bodies in certain rituals and ceremonies. Perhaps the Vulcans had a similar culture.

 _There are._ Soval was silent a moment longer before he added, _I do not wish to seek them out._

His sentence sounded unfinished and so Elonat pressed, **What do you want then?**

Soval remained quiet and this time instead of remaining patient and understanding Elonat felt frustration build inside her. She didn't choose to be a party to this and she couldn't very well get away from it either. Soval needed to survive this if she was going to survive this and his playing silent treatment was not helping either of them. She happily projected these thoughts and feelings to Soval in the hopes that he'd respond. He didn't. Elonat would've pulled her hair and stomped her feet had she any but as it was she instead spoke, **Damn it, Soval, you need to tell me what the hell I'm supposed to do here. I need you to survive this sane because if you go insane then I'm pretty sure I go insane with you. There are more lives at stake here than just your own. I know I'm speaking from semi-selfish motives here, but fuck Soval, come on and tell me already what it is I can do to help you. By helping you, I'm helping me. So talk already!**

Elonat felt a moment of confusion and then suddenly she saw herself through Soval's eyes. He must've gone to the medical room where her body was kept. He was standing near her bedside and this time as Elonat looked at herself she could see a definite difference. She felt an attraction towards herself and knew that this came from Soval. She also felt a wave of desire for touch and knew again that this came from Soval.

Eloant didn't quite know what to think or feel about this but she spoke to Soval without taking time to process, **You can touch me, Soval.**

The desire she'd felt earlier increased at her words and Elonat watched as a shaking hand reached out and gently touched the back of her hand. She processed as Soval the warmth of her skin, the softness of it as well, and the pulse of her heartbeat in the veins beneath. It was a jarring feeling, seeing her body as Soval saw it, processing sensory input as Soval processed it, and yet still maintaining her own consciousness. If she took time to "step back" to analyze this it would probably give her a headache if she'd had a head to ache, but instead, she chose to remain in the moment. Soval was just shy of a crisis and he didn't need her to be delving into the psychology behind all this.

Soval's fingers drew inward into a semi-fist, though two fingers remained extended. Elonat recognized the gesture from her memories of her grandfather and grandmother. Elonat felt surprise at the sight and as she didn't shield her surprise Soval's hand jerked away from her body and out of sight.

 **No,** she projected comfort, **I, just,** Elonat would've sighed but again had no lungs to do so, **if I had control of my body, Soval, I would reciprocate this.**

The image of her body disappeared but instead of being nothing again, Elonat was transported back to the scene in Ireland. She once more had a body and she once more could interact with the imagined environment around her. She didn't know what this meant, or what Soval was doing, but she knew he wasn't violating her body. Elonat turned and moved to go into the lighthouse. She'd always imagined a cozy wooden interior with many bookshelves and comfortable reading chairs and every room had a fire. She would seek out peace inside there since she'd begun to feel great confusion out here.

Elonat had only settled herself onto the edge of one of the large sofas in the main room of the lighthouse but a moment when Soval appeared. He was no longer wearing the formal robes she typically saw him in. Instead, he wore a simple black tunic and black trousers. Elonat couldn't help but admire the sight of him. She'd always found him attractive but the extended time they'd been together had only increased her appreciation levels. Elonat didn't shield her appreciation from him and watched as the lines around Soval's eyes and mouth relax in response.

"Did you mean what you said?" Soval's voice wrapped around her like a hug and Elonat again didn't hide the effect it had on her.

She smiled and patted the sofa beside her, "Which part?" She thought back over the things that she'd said so far and recapped, "The part about my wanting to help you, the frustration at your stubbornness, the fact that I believe you to be a good mate and think either you or every female on Vulcan are idiots for not having recognized that fact yet?" Soval moved to sit beside her, close enough so she could feel his projected image's warmth but not so close that they were touching. She smiled again when he turned to look at her, "Or the fact that I'd reciprocate if I had a body?"

"All of that." Soval's eyes seemed to glow in the firelight.

"I try to make it a point to mean what I say and say what I mean, Soval," Elonat surprised them both by reaching out and taking hold of his hand. Immediately she felt the vibrating sensation thrum through her entire sense of self; it was a heady feeling. And from the look on Soval's face, it seemed he felt it too. Her voice was husky as she added, "And I don't need to have a body in order to maintain that characteristic."

Soval nodded, his eyes tracing over her features before moving to their hands. He pulled his hand away just enough to flip it over so that when she replaced her hand they were palm to palm with their fingers intertwined. She hadn't thought it possible but the pleasure level of their touch increased and her projected self in this scene had begun to breathe faster.

"Elonat," Soval's voice seemed to have also deepened in quality, "I am about to ask you to do something for me that I have no right to ask." His grip on her hand tightened but it did not hurt; if anything it only increased the intensity of the pleasure it brought her. "Yet, I cannot stop myself from asking. Even so, you do not have to acquiesce to my request." He seemed to take steadying breaths, "You have every right to say no."

Elonat answered him by leaning forward and pressing her lips to his. She felt nothing. Curious, she leaned back and stared at him. Soval stared back.

"Have you never kissed before?" She asked then, a sudden thought coming to mind.

Soval seemed to smile. He pulled his hand from hers and extended two fingers, running them up and down and between her fingers. She felt the pleasure from before and this only confirmed her hypothesis. She could only feel in this place the sensations that Soval had felt in his own experiences. His mind interpreted the sensory input for her that it would for himself. Elonat had noticed that her physical sensations had grown more intense and even more accurate with every memory she'd shared with him. With this in mind, Elonat smiled.

"I would like to share a sensory memory with you." She drew his hand to her face even though it was not necessary for him to assume the mind meld position; she just liked feeling his hand there.

He leaned closer and shifted towards her as she thought back to the sensation of her first kiss with Jikain. She did her best to shield the memory to sensations only, blurring out as it were the details of who this was shared with and when, but she happily let him relive the sensations.

 _I have seen humans kiss this way_. Soval's voice was in her mind when they shared memories. _This is what it feels like then?_ She let him feel the quickening of her heart rate and breath, the growing arousal in all parts of her body, and pressure and sensations of lips on lips and tongue in mouth. _Fascinating, w_ as all he said in return.

Elonat laughed. **I have more to share. If you want.**

Soval surprised her by pulling her body into his arms as he laid back on the sofa. There were some parts of the projected image from which she had no sensation, and she knew that was because he had no actual knowledge of what she felt like or how she responded to touch in those areas, but as a whole she could feel the warmth and strength and overall presence of Soval as he held her. She turned her head and laid it on his chest, hearing his heartbeat though he had no reason to project one into the scene. His hand remained on her face.

 _I want._

His words were enough for her to bring him into her memory and share with him the sensations she's felt her first time with Jikain. She knew she wasn't able to shield all the particulars from him, as some things were directly connected to Jikain's distinctiveness as a Romulan, but she again focused on the sensations that would be most informative for Soval at this time, given their present situation. Once she'd relived with him the entirety of all her times with Jikain, the awkward and painful as well as pleasurable, Elonat lifted her head to look at him. His face was difficult to read but she knew from the fact that he still held her that he hadn't found the journey entirely distasteful.

"If I had a body, Soval," Elonat smiled at him as she spoke, "I would gladly make new memories such as these with you."

Soval surprised her, as well as perhaps himself, when he pulled her up and pressed his lips against hers. This time she felt something.


	14. Talk Therapy

There had only been so much Elont could do for Soval with her memory sharing, given her own lack of experience and his lack of experience with a human. Of course, what was shared was intense and overwhelming and exciting and draining all at the same time. All the times that they did come together to slack off the fever were confusing and discombobulated and were heavily influenced by Soval's expectations and desires from the Vulcan male perspective. His knowledge of human female was limited, and once he'd been in the fever, he had not been inclined to learn or adapt to the female psyche. While Elonat understood that—he was the one in _pon farr_ after all—it did wear on her and left her feeling…thin after about a month and a half's time.

For that was the time it took for Soval to meditate his way through the fever. When able to slate off the fever with a willing physical partner, it typically did not take so long. And yet when meditating through it without a _katra_ inside to aid, it usually took a bit longer. This was an entirely new type of coping meditation and not one to overlook the scientific ramifications, Soval documented the pitfalls and successes of meditating through _pon farr_ while having another's _katra_ inside him. Elonat admired that about Soval that he would be willing to subject himself to such scrutiny, and for centuries yet, as students studied through this documentation, yet Elonat also found it slightly violating of her own privacy. For it was HER _katra_ in his mind, and much of the successes, as well as pitfalls, of this current conundrum were directly connected to her unique personality and its interaction with his unique personality. This mixture would never again be possible so with that in mind, Elonat felt the documentation a waste of time as well as frustrating.

Of course, she shielded these thoughts and feelings from Soval during the worst of his fever. That time was spent living out what could only be described as either fantasies or memories of Soval's. Typically she felt nothing that Soval himself didn't feel, as again only his sensory memories or her shared ones could inform the scenes. She supposed it was a blessing that neither one of them had complete knowledge for indeed the frequency of the couplings if it did happen as often in reality as it did in his mind, would tire her body and necessitate a significant recovery period.

If her understanding of Vulcan male-to-female relationships accurately, and Vulcan men and women did not cycle into _pon farr_ at the same time, as well as the fact that Vulcan women did not ever feel it to the degree that Vulcan men did, then it was no wonder that the relationships were more aloof and less affectionate than what one might expect for beings that lived as long as they. To be forced to have sex so much, only once every seven years, and without regard for whether or not they were "in the mood" would be emotionally strenuous. But there was the crux of the matter: Vulcan women's emotions. They were not the same as human women and so perhaps they did not feel the wear on their own emotions that Elonat, even without her body, was struggling with at the time.

Her own analytical side found these images and experiences fascinating as much as Soval found the situation fascinating—she just lacked the means to "journal" it down as he did. Though the situation had been far from ideal, living through the _pon farr_ with him and "servicing" Soval by living out these fantasy/memories helped her understand him better. Helped her know her grandfather, and her father too in a fashion, as she thought back on conversations and through seeing memories of her grandfather and grandmother together. She didn't want to think about her grandparents, or her parents, having sex but having "experienced" _pon farr_ for herself now—in a fashion—did have her curious despite herself.

Elonat stretched and looked around at the meadow scene in which she lay. It had been only three weeks since Soval's fever had abated and he'd been feeling more himself again. But it had only taken him two weeks to build up a strange awkwardness towards her that seemed illogical to build. After all, she was just a projection in his mind. Yes, eventually she would—hopefully—go back to her own body, and they'd have to interact with one another in real life. But from what she could tell, Soval did not view her as a potential mate and though she had, and did still, see him as a suitable mate she hadn't explicitly meant for herself. So now that he'd gotten the fever out of him, did he fear her growing too attached to him? She'd never thought she'd become the "one night stand" kind of woman and yet she rather felt that way now.

At least if she'd had a body, she could've done something productive like paint or build or garden. She tried doing that here and could achieve it in a fashion, but it wasn't the same. It didn't produce the same meditative relaxation response as it would if she'd been doing it in her own body. Elonat sighed and batted her hand at the tall grass growing up beside her. She didn't quite know what she felt right now. Used? Perhaps, but that would be illogical to feel since she'd volunteered. Abandoned? Yes, Soval's absence—she hadn't "seen" him in nearly a week now—it did make her feel abandoned. Angry? Yes, she felt angry at the situation, and a bit angry at what seemed to be an emotional immaturity on Soval's end, or was it hers? Depressed? Elonat sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. She'd never been one to feel much depression, even in the aftermath of verbal and attempted physical abuse when people found out about the Augment DNA. But she supposed the listless, thin feeling she felt now was akin to depression. The question remained, then, was it connected to Soval or was it connected to her pregnancy or was it connected to her lack of body?

"Elonat."

She looked over to see Soval walking towards her through the grass. Elonat closed her eyes and listened to the rustling sounds his movements made. How much more pure would the sound be if she could hear it with her own ears? She opened her eyes and blinked up at Soval. She couldn't tell what he was thinking or feeling. She had less access to his subconscious mind now; Elonat felt nearly as estranged from him as when she'd first been awakened in his mind.

Soval eyed the grass beside her before his gaze flickered back to her face. Elonat supposed he was asking for a silent invitation. She sighed and nodded. Soval still didn't say anything when he sat down—definitely not close enough for an accidental touch. Elonat didn't feel the need to end the silence either, however, and so continued to sit and stare off at nothing in particular.

"It is a custom on Vulcan, as I know it is on Earth, for one to seek forgiveness when an offense has been given." Elonat looked over to Soval in question. "If my neglect of your care in these past weeks has offended you," He laid a hand over his heart and bowed his head, "I ask your forgiveness."

Elonat continued to stare at him in silence. She wasn't entirely sure the motives behind his "peace" offering. Was it to assuage his guilt? Did he feel guilt anyway? Was it because he wanted something else from her? Was it to fulfill a post _pon farr_ ritual? Did he actually feel a lack in his comings and goings when he didn't interact with her? Elonat hardened herself to the last thought. It wouldn't matter if he did or didn't anyway. Finally, she nodded in return then returned her gaze to the swaying grass. She still had no interest in speaking while Soval continued to sit in silence next to her, the Vulcan equivalent of "at odds" of what to say or do with her.

Finally, after a time, Soval spoke up, "A group of medical scientists has returned from a deep space mission." Elonat hummed a sound to signal her listening but still kept silent. "They have been given the details of your status, and they believe they know of a procedure that would allow you to return to your body in less than a month."

Before Elonat could stop herself, she was kneeling beside Soval, holding his hand, and leaning well into his personal space in her excitement. "Really? When did they come? How long have you known? Is that why you've not been around? When are they going to start? Will I be able to carry the baby to term? Is it the same risk percentage as before?" She peppered him with questions almost in one breath.

It was only when she finished asking her questions that she recognized the fact that she'd crossed into his space and had taken hold of his hand. Instead of recoiling from her, as she'd expect considering his extended absence from these scenes, he covered her hand with his other and secured the hold more directly. He almost seemed…relieved?...to be touching her again. Elonat blinked. Was she reading his emotions correctly? Or was she feeling that and projecting it onto him?

"Yes, their presence on Vulcan has been occupying some of my time, as well as the return of a few emissaries from other planets. I do not have all the details you have questioned me about at this time, but I will have it soon." Soval studied her face for another quiet moment before he gestured for Elonat to sit more comfortably in front of him—not precisely necessary since she didn't have a real body, but she understood the sentiment. He let go over her hand and laced his own fingers together into a meditative gesture she'd seen both her father and grandfather do. "I know enough from my dealings with Captain Archer and his crew on the _Enterprise_ , that I believe it is customary in the aftermath of a traumatic or life-changing event there is a period where humans get together to talk about their feelings. I believe this is considered therapeutic to them and the vocalization of emotion is a way that humans process through the tumultuous waves of emotion and find balance. Is this correct?"

Elonat blinked. She was assuming that by asking this question, Soval wanted to initiate such a time with her. She hoped so; even if she still felt reluctant to voice everything she was feeling, it would do wonders for her opinion of Soval's character if he showed this type of compassion towards her. When she noticed Soval tipping his head to the side in question, Elonat realized she hadn't answered yet.

"Yes, that is correct. Humans feel strongly, yes, but through talking and asking questions, they create empathy and compassion, and this draws the relationships closer together instead of further apart. The talking for them, and authentic, honest talking at that, is the equivalent to a mind-meld."

Soval nodded. He studied Elonat's face again then looked around at the meadow as if noticing it for the first time. Elonat didn't dare interrupt for fear that he would shut down. When his eyes came back to rest on her, she thought she saw the Vulcan equivalent to a smile touch the corners of his mouth.

"Are there feelings or emotions you believe I should be aware of regarding our time together in the _pon farr_? I know that the experience was new for you, and in many ways myself as well. While you were a willing and most adaptable aid to me, I cannot help but think there are thoughts you have kept from me regarding the whole experience."

Elonat crossed her arms over her chest, "Are you asking for mere scientific research?"

"That," Soval eyed her arms then looked back to her face, "is a defensive question, correct?"

Elonat sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Maybe it would've been more compassionate if he hadn't initiated this conversation.

"Yes, and no, both at the same time. As a human female, if you are asking these questions out of sheer curiosity but have no intention of amending behavior in the future or are not truly concerned for my emotions and thoughts, then this line of questioning could lead me to feel even more negative feelings than before."

"Then you are feeling negative emotions regarding our time together?"

Elonat squeezed her fists together. This was going to be very, very, very, difficult.

"Before I answer that question, do you understand my statement about why a human female would need to know the motive behind your questions?"

"Yes, I believe I do." Soval grew silent, and from the look on his face, Elonat knew he was internally assessing himself. When he did speak again it wasn't quite in the line of thought she'd thought he'd go, "Why would I need to amend my behavior in the future? You will soon be within your own body again."

He didn't need to go further. Soval was confirming to her that he didn't see her as a viable option as a mate. Once she was in her own body, they would not need to come together again for his _pon farr_ and damn her own feelings for taking exception to that. Elonat gritted her teeth together and decided to change tactics on him as well.

"As ambassador to Earth, and as an unmarried Vulcan, do you plan on finding a Vulcan mate who is amiable to the idea of your work on Earth, possibly even joining you?" Before he could answer this question, Elonat punked him with another. "Or do you find human female attractive enough to take as a mate?" She knew by asking the second question she was just hurting herself further if he confirmed his attraction…to human females not her.

Soval's voice gave a hint that he carefully measured his words, "My clan mother has been in negotiation with two other clans regarding a possible match." Well, that just made Elonat feel like the mistress. "However, I do not believe either candidate would see me as a suitable match. Their interest lies in space exploration and diplomacy to the outer most known worlds." Okay, maybe less like a mistress now. "As for human females," Soval's eyes seemed to purposefully avoid Elonat. "There is logic in taking a human wife, although our lifespan differences would pose an eventual necessity for remarriage." Elonat inwardly laughed. He was talking to her after all, and she'd lived through that—though her grandfather had not felt such a necessity to remarry.

"Soval," he finally looked to her at the sound of his name, "the question was do you find human females attractive enough to take as a mate. Based on your very informative answer I'll assume that yes, you do."

He nodded.

"Then even if it was not originally your motive to hear my answers in the frame of mind of how you can learn from this encounter and make necessary adjustments for future encounters if you do believe yourself more inclined to take a human mate in the future, use this time accordingly." Elonat reached out and patted his shoulder. "It doesn't have to mean you're learning from me for me, but that your learning from me for yourself."

Soval seemed to weigh her words but said nothing in response. After a moment more, he straightened.

"I am ready."

Elonat had to keep herself from laughing at his seriousness. But after her own initial moment of amusement, she gritted her mental teeth and bared her soul. If hearing the good, the bad, and the painful from their time together could spare another woman in the future similar pain, then she was willing to say all.


	15. Poisoner of Wells

_I've taken liberties with Vulcan rituals and traditions and the translations I found from the Vulcan Language Dictionary online. Don't worry old faces from Enterprise and alike will return, eventually, and other canon characters that you love will show up fairly soon as well. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the relationship development between Elonat and the various folks she encounters. Thanks in advance for the reviews. Cheers!_

* * *

The initial reintegration to her body had been painful and awkward, and painfully awkward. Elonat had to relearn how to use her limbs and fingers and it was only after a week's worth of physical therapy that she could walk again—assisted with a cane, hold a spoon on her own, and not have to wear a diaper—the incontinence had been one of the most disquieting side effects of existing in Soval's mind for so long. There were other aspects that were also frustrating: feeling alone unless Soval was near her, feeling uncertain all the time, not knowing her own body, not being able to sleep properly, and etc.

Throughout it all, Soval remained by her side, which astonished Elonat considering how busy he'd stated he'd been just before her reintegration. Of course, there were times his aides came and pulled him away for a few hours, but Elonat found those times of silence somewhat comforting. She used them to trace the outlines of her swollen belly, seeking to connect with the child in her womb in a way she'd been unable for the months she'd been within Soval. A few times, Soval had returned unannounced and found Elonat speaking softly to her child, and if he'd found her actions odd or illogical, he didn't comment. He'd only nodded to her when they'd made eye contact and either left her again if she seemed to be in the middle of something—which she often was—or would settle in his place at her side for the remainder of the day.

Soval hadn't quite taken up quarters in the infirmary, but he had made himself a daily presence, and after the first few days of awkward reacquaintance with her body, and with him through her own body, they seemed to have fallen into a comfortable rhythm. Elonat wouldn't precisely describe Soval's presence, or his daily checks with the nursing staff, as doting, but for a Vulcan, he did seem to be exhibiting more care and interest in her well-being than others might have thought logical. But then again, everyone involved in her care knew that she'd been within his mind all these months, so perhaps it was logical that for the first bit of time that they were now in separate bodies again that he would feel the need to look after her care, since it had grown to be such a habit.

It was after a week and a half that the nursing staff made allowances for Elonat, and her grandfather's clan family was contacted again to see if they would extend the invitation once more for her to stay with them. After two days of deliberation, the invitation had been extended again and this was to be the morning that Soval escorted her to her grandfather's clan family's estate on the outskirts of the capital city.

Elonat had not slept well the night before; it was one of the first nights the nursing staff had weaned her off the sedatives they'd been giving her for nighttime rest. She was curious, nervous, and perhaps even a bit frightened of the coming meeting. Elonat had tried to keep her hopes from rising, to keep herself from the illogical belief that her grandfather's kin would accept her as she was and with the Vulcan equivalent of warmth. Most likely, they were standing by tradition and duty and would tolerate her, and after a few decades, grow to have Vulcan-like affection for her, but would they ever accept her child?

Elonat jerked in her seat when she felt a hand touch the back of her own. She looked down from gazing out the window of the transport pod they were sitting in and found Soval lightly touching the back of her white-knuckled, clenching hands. Her eyes traveled up Soval's arm to his face, and she saw a softness in his eyes that she'd grown accustomed to, and Elonat returned his unspoken question with a smile of her own as she let go of her hands and entwined her fingers with his.

There was no word in the English dictionary, or Vulcan she was sure, to describe what she felt towards Soval and likely what he felt towards her, but whatever it was, it was comfortable now. While neither one of them attempted to touch each other more than was socially acceptable while others were around, Elonat had been surprised at how often Soval had initiated a light shoulder pat, or arm brush, of even brief handhold in the times that they'd been alone and conversing with one another. She was far from adverse to it and found that her pregnancy had increased her desire for physical affection, and so Elonat had not said anything about it—for fear that Soval would stop if she called attention to it

After their heart-to-heart, Soval had impressed Elonat with his dedication to behavior modification. Even though they both understood that her advice and insight was unique to her background and genetic makeup—she was far from representative of the average human female—Soval still endeavored to adjust his behavior towards her so that she felt more welcomed, appreciated, and at peace when around him. When she'd asked about his motives—convincing herself that she wasn't asking out of hope for reciprocation of something she refused to acknowledge—he'd told her that her requests of his behavioral changes were not unreasonable. If he was to be successful in his efforts on Earth then he had better put these changes into practice with her, where Soval knew he could trust her responses and insight if he overstepped and needed "correction" again, instead of waiting until he returned to Earth and tried these new behaviors on strangers who would not offer him the same authentic feedback. Elonat had nodded, acknowledging the truth of his words while she'd fought against a smidgen of disappointment. But then he'd surprised her by taking hold of her hand and pressing his lips to the back of it.

"What was that for?" Elonat had asked, knowing that there was no such gesture in the Vulcan culture.

Soval had raised a single eyebrow, "Was it not the appropriate time to make such a gesture? From your memories and my own research on human etiquette, it appeared the right time for me to express this form of," he tipped his head to the side as if trying to shake the right word out of his mental dictionary, "exchange. I believed it was the time for me to express how much I value your," he again shifted his head, this time to the other side, almost bird-like, "insight; what I read stated that between comrades of differing genders this is often a way of expressing such value without using verbal cues. Was I incorrect?"

"Yes, and no," Elonat had squeezed his hand before letting go, resisting the urge to hold her hand over where she still felt the warmth of his lips, "it was an archaic gesture even in my time and if you did such an act with every human female you would soon earn the reputation of being a 'ladies man.'"

That comment had caused nearly an hour's worth of stomach hurting laughter when Soval had innocently—or had he been feigning innocence to get her to laugh?—questioned her on the merits or demerits of earning such a reputation as he knew in some cultures sexual prowess greatly aided one's political clout. Elonat's smile widened as she continued to look at Soval sitting closer than need be in the back of the transport pod, finding peace in his physical presence and in the memories they'd created together.

"You will not be alone, Elonat," Elonat felt a jolt of warmth seep through her hand where Soval held her skin to skin, and she knew he was sending her emotional support, "your _teret-zulan'es_ , blood family, will do their duty by you and see to your needs." At Elonat's sigh, he added, "But you are my," he paused in thought and was quiet for so long Elonat thought he'd lost his train of thought but then he looked back to her with renewed warmth in his eyes and his grip, " _t'hy'la_. I believe the closest equivalent in English would be 'friend,'" he grew silent again, and Elonat thought she saw a green flush creep into his ear tips, "though the closeness of _t'hy'la_ can also be equated with the closeness of lovers," he shifted in his seat before schooling his features of the hints of discomfort she'd taken note of, "though such physical affection to be shared is not the norm for Vulcan _t'hy'la_."

Elonat had been proven wrong then, in her assessment that there wasn't a Vulcan word for what it was they had. They had been lovers, in a fashion, but they were also friends, in a fashion, and no matter what cultural or genetic differences they had, Elonat knew instinctively that Soval was a part of her soul in a way that no man had been before. Whether or not that meant they would follow along the lines of a fairy tale and end up as a married couple riding off into the sunset together—with her Romulan hybrid child—that was not even a part of what it was she felt for Soval. She found that with each passing day spent with him, in the ease that they'd created together, she was less and less preoccupied with the fear/anxiety/hope of creating a life with him. For it was apparent that no matter where she went, or he, that they would continue to be a part of one another's lives for as long as they remained alive. Soval's admission and willing use of this word had only solidified an assumption that had built-in Elonat's mind.

And this fact had Elonat's heart near bursting with joy. She didn't try to shield Soval from it either, and she watched with amused fascination as his ears again turned a greenish shade, and his breath quickened ever so slightly when her emotions washed through him.

" _Wa 'paitaren du_." She knew her accent was off as she expressed her thanks in Vulcan, though Elonat also knew Soval's tutelage heavily influenced the accent she had, and she'd sound like she was from Soval's province and not her kinsfolk until someone else took up the task of teaching her Vulcan.

Soval's eyes crinkled ever so slightly as an indication that he was pleased with her effort, and he inclined his head in return, " _Veling_."

Elonat rolled her eyes and chuckled as she turned to look out the window again, not letting go of Soval's hand. Leave it to the Vulcan's to create a "you're welcome" word that was the equivalent of "duh, it was the logical thing to do." There were other ways of expressing a response to "thank you," though that phrase was also not a standard word or expression used in Vulcan, those ways varied in accordance to how you expressed thanks.

Soval's choice had been deliberate as he'd known, no doubt, that it'd make Elonat laugh. Who knew that a Vulcan would have the ability to make a human-Augment-hybrid laugh, and so often as well? She'd have to tell Brenna. Next, she saw her—if she saw her again—that some Vulcans did have a natural sense of mirth and after the forced closeness of their time together, Soval had revealed this to Elonat and she felt honored by that.

Her momentary reprieve from anxiety started to wane when the transport pod began to slow down, and they passed through what looked to be an outer gate to a well-manicured Vulcan-desert garden area in front of a stately mansion. She squeezed Soval's hand.

"Could you run through the names with me again?" She looked back to her _t'hy'la_ , enjoying calling him that in her mind now.

He nodded, "Your _pid-kom_ or clan mother T'Pau will not be able to officially receive you today as she is in the middle of negotiations with Star Fleet, but the next highest clan member and _tomasu_ , or relative, is _Al_ Pausenn, her younger brother. He and his _adun'a,_ your _toz'ot_ , T'Lus, and their _t'dahsular s'natya-yu-murlar_ , I believe you call these fraternal twins, T'saanur his daughter or _ko-fu_ and his _sa-fu_ , or son, Skylock, will be the ones to receive you today. There will no doubt be several other _k'war'ma'khon_ , clan members, gathered here, but I was not informed of which ones specifically; however, those are the names of the immediate clan members that will officially receive you. Do you remember what you are to say and do?"

"First, I extend the _ta'al_ salute and say _Dif-tor heh smusma na'shaya_ , which is the _ta'al_ and a formal greeting together." Elonat had a devil of a time with the Vulcan words that had consonants smashed together, and her iteration and pace of speech were far off from Soval's examples, but he'd reassured her that she was at least understandable and considering the context that was enough.

"Yes, and then they will say _sochya eh dif,"_

Soval paused long enough that Elonat understood he was waiting for her to translate, "Peace and long life."

He nodded and added, " _T'nar jaral_." He paused again, and again Elonat translated.

"That is the formal reply to my formal greeting." He nodded and waited for Elonat to continue. "They will then say something like your presence honors us to you, right?"

" _Amsetri tre,_ Soval, yes they will speak first to me after the official meeting. But then what happens?"

Elonat nibbled on her lower lip. After all that there was the logical and hoped for action of her clan family welcoming her in to their _ha-kel_ , or home, and declaring that her time of _aitlun_ or lack was at an end as they would execute their _fonn_ or loyalty to their _orfik-sasu,_ forefather, and that they _istaya,_ wished for, her to dwell _akhlami,_ among them, and to become a part of _krilan-vo'ektaya_ or the harmonious equilibrium of the household. She was then to extend her _itar-bosh_ , or gratitude, by offering a ceremonial serving of water, grain, salt, and fertile earth, each divided up into separate containers on a platter. This was what was supposed to happen.

It was perhaps a record meeting for Vulcan standards in how quick it happened, but if they'd been on Earth, the meeting would've had Elonat returning to her seat in the transporter pod before her seat had even gotten cold. Everything had gone according to plan, both her _Al_ Pausenn and her _toz'ot_ T'Lus had spoken and acted as Soval had predicted, up until Elonat had made to give the platter to Pausenn. It was then that Skylock had muttered something in Vulcan, and a surprising number of her supposed clan members had nodded their assent to his comment, stunning both his parents and causing Soval to stiffen in shock or anger?

Elonat knew that this was not the norm, the muttering during a ceremony or even for a youth to speak before being spoken to, so Skylock was exhibiting a lack of _nahr_ or discipline, something her own father had gotten onto her quite often as a child as well, so she felt empathy for the poor lad. But her sense of pity for him had been dashed to shreds when Soval took the time to translate all that transpired from that point forward as Pausenn and T'Lus interrogated their son for his disrespect in front of them all.

"It appears that a number of xenophobic individuals have influenced Skylock at his place of study who do not welcome anything non-Vulcan." Elonat watched as Soval's jaw clenched, and he took a steadying breath. "He referred to you as a k _'shatrisu_ or foreigner first but then reduced you to a 'thing' status when he why they had to extend hospitality to _ish-veh_ , 'that one.'"

Elonat was morbidly amazed that such strong words could be exchanged in such even tones. Soval remained silent as they watched Pausenn speak to Skylock and were both momentarily shocked when, after another muttered comment, Pausenn raised his voice at his son, ceasing his son's momentary movements of retreat.

"Pausenn told his son that he would do as he _karthau_ commanded, as he is Skylock's father. Skylock incited his father's ire when he called his father _kobat_ weak, and Pausenn told his son to cease speaking and _hafa'uh,_ stay."

Pausenn turned to Soval and Elonat then and spoke effusively in Vulcan first to Soval and then to Elonat. Elonat looked to Soval for translation, "He quotes Surak's teachings. We have differences, he says, but he wishes that together you may overlook this shameful display of his son's so together you may become greater than the sum of both." Soval waited for a beat while Pausenn added a few more words. "He says that he believes in Surak's teachings that one must also reach out to others courteously and that the spear his son's words may have thrown at your heart has also entered his own."

Elonat looked from Soval to Pausenn and then beyond him to Skylock. The young man did not have the control over his emotions that his father seemed to have and so it did not take much effort on Elonat's part to discern disdain and contempt in the boy's eyes for her. She did not want to expose her child to this sort of treatment, for as much as the young Vulcan hated her—and it seemed some of the other clan members agreed with him based on their earlier nods of assent—they would all despise the Romulan blood coursing through her child's veins. But she would not incite further reason to hatred for humans, or Romulans, by reacting to the immaturity of a child—and a xenophobic notion she'd been well acquainted with in her own time. No, she would take the higher road.

Elonat took a deep breath, steadying her voice and her nerves before she spoke. "Please thank Pausenn for his hospitality and let him know that I hold no grudge against him or the family for the actions and words taken by his son. I understand that Skylock speaks of his own heart, though perhaps also a few others among the clan, and I believe that all are equally entitled to an opinion. I would not wish to incite further strife amongst family members by remaining here." Soval's eyes widened a bit at her words, but he dutifully translated. Pausenn also looked both confused, surprised, and akin to worried, but Elonat continued, and as such, Soval continued. "Please let them know that whenever I find a place to call my home that they are all welcome to it and that should they ever have any need, should I be able, I will gladly extend hospitality and aid to them." She made eye contact with Skylock and added, "All of them."

Immediately after Soval finished, but before Pausenn could respond, Skylock let out a string of heavily emphasized words before he turned and stalked off. T'Lus looked like she was about to keel over dead at first but then quickly spoke a phrase over and over again before she rushed off after her son. Pausenn looked pained as well, and he spoke softly with his head lowered in shame.

Elonat had to tug at Soval's robe sleeve to remind him that she hadn't a clue what had just been said. "Skylock said we should not listen to a _lunikkh ta'vik_ , a poisoner of wells. T'Lus begged your _ni'droi'ik nar-tor,_ forgiveness, I believe, and Pausenn quoted Surak once more. 'The present is the crossroads of both the future and the past.' He has expressed concern over the future of Vulcan, as he sees quite plainly today the danger of isolationist sentiments."

Soval spoke a few phrases in Vulcan to Pausenn before he allowed Elonat to say anything more. Pausenn still looked worried and shameful, but he nodded to Soval before turning his attention to Elonat, and he offered her the _ta'al_ along with a few parting phrases. It was then that Soval took Elonat's elbow and physically steered her away from the group. It had been decided that no more words need to be exchanged. She could tell Soval was furious and that he didn't give a damn what they thought about his touching her so "intimately," so Elonat remained quiet until they were both settled back in the transport pod before she asked what had been spoken in the end.

Soval had his hands pressed together in the thoughtful gesture she knew he used to calm down, "I told him that he was tending a plant that was already dead by trying to force the beliefs of Surak upon the youth of Vulcan. It had to be a voluntary choice to follow such a path, and that it did not depend upon blood relation to the forefather of our teachings." Soval closed his eyes, and after breathing a few times, which didn't seem to settle him any more than he had been, he muttered something under his breath.

Elonat could hear it however and parroted the phrase back to him, "What does _ponfo mirann_ mean?"

Soval's eyes snapped open, and he looked at her in shock and also a mixture of shame. After a moment, he sighed and leaned back against the seat. A few more moments passed by before he spoke again. "It is a colloquial phrase that is not used politely or in the company of elders. I believe humans would consider it an expletive."

"You just said 'fuck', didn't you?" Elonat started to laugh despite the situation. Soval raised an eyebrow, and Elonat explained through her laughter, "It is considered one of the rudest of expletives for humans, and while it is a crude description of copulation the use of it as an oath can be quite creative. I have a friend back on _Enterprise_ who taught me a few new ways of using it I'd not thought of before." Brenna would be so proud of the current conversation and the brief mental image of Brenna, and with her Hayes, had Elonat's spirits returning to a higher, less despondent level.

Soval nodded before he closed his eyes and leaned back again, "I apologize for my momentary loss of _nahr._ Skylock's treatment towards you was against logic and tradition. I will be certain to inform T'Pau of these proceedings. She will know how to deal with the situation appropriately."

"Is that necessary?" Soval merely hummed a breath through his sinus cavities in response, so Elonat added. "I mean that feels a little bit like what humans call tattling. Telling about someone else's mistake so you can feel better about yourself."

Soval opened his eyes as he shook his head and his hands strengthened their press against each other, "No, Elonat, this would not be tattling. Skylock has voiced sentiments that have been lying in the background of Vulcan society for quite some time, but that should not be allowed to gain momentum or continue without intentional counteraction. I must shamefully admit that when I was first sent to Earth, I too held some degree of these sentiments." He did not make eye contact, but Elonat knew Soval well enough now to imagine the dimming of the light in his eyes as he admitted to his past failures. "And what is worse was that I perpetuated these sentiments into my staff and through my advice to my superiors. I purposefully stood in the way of human progression into space travel. I acted as a barrier to your species' development," Soval looked up to the sky outside their transport pod and it sounded almost like a sigh coming from him before he spoke again, "Skylock's opinion is unfortunately shared by more than is logical given our current context of intergalactic travel and the geopolitical movements coming and going through all the known worlds. Looking back now, I see that I have shamed myself with obstinate and arrogant Vulcan pride standing in the way of a species' progression," Soval still did not look to Elonat and did not see how impressed she was that he was sharing all this with her and that he even had these sentiments now, "yet," he finally looked to her, and she saw a new look in his eyes, perhaps something like admiration or respect, "my more intimate interactions with you have helped me come to understand humans in a way I would never have otherwise. I thank you for that, for your patience and willingness to be," he did that thinking head tip thing before he added, "vulnerable with me in this process."

Elonat could only blink at him. She nodded quietly, and he seemed to relax at sight, leaning more against the seat and closing his eyes as he fell into a shallow meditation. Elonat didn't know what to say to all that and so fell silent as well, her eyes traveling from the sight of a meditating Soval to the landscape outside. It was during one of her glances at him that he opened one eye and looked to Elonat.

"If T'Pau remedies the situation and you are once more invited into Surak's clan, will you accept the invitation?"

Elonat drew her lower lip into her mouth and nibbled as she thought over all that Soval had just admitted to—and she had come to believe him to be one of the more open-minded of Vulcans—as well as the sentiments voiced by Skylock and through him the representation of quite a few among the Vulcan society.

"What does is it mean 'poisoner of wells'?" Elonat wasn't changing the subject but hoped that by delving into the connotations with this it would help Soval understand her reasonings. "Have humans literally poisoned Vulcan wells?"

"No," Soval opened both his eyes and looked out at the passing cityscape, "it describes a person who cannot be trusted, someone who will destroy all they come into contact with, and who does not value that which should be valued. They are without honor and without loyalty and should be shunned, if not outrightly killed."

"Well, that answers your question." Elonat crossed her arms over her chest and fell against the seat, allowing her shoulder to lean against Soval's.

"What do you mean?"

Elonat shrugged, "I appreciate that Skylock had the courage to voice such strong sentiments upfront and right away instead of it seething under the surface for months if not years. I would rather know right off where I stand with a person instead of having to second-guess or feel betrayed later. From my observation of the meeting back there, it appeared that he was voicing sentiments that were shared by more than a few of my own clans folk. If people who are supposed to be 'influenced' by tradition and the teaching of their own ancestor cannot abide by my presence, then how much more so would they loathe that of my child?" Soval was quiet, and so Elonat continued after a time. "I cannot make decisions for myself alone. Not anymore. I must think about my child. Where can I go where my child will be, if not accepted, at least tolerated without the threat of open hostility and aggression? Who can I be with who would not see my child as something to be disdained but as a unique individual who should have equal opportunity as any other to succeed and fail in this wide universe?"

She turned her head to look up at Soval, and she could tell from the way he shifted that he was using his peripherals to look at her in return. "I have two to think of now, not just one, and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

"Or the one." He quickly added, and without warning, he loosely wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Elonat did not complain and instead relished the warmth he offered, both in body and in comfort. She leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes, focusing on the sound of his breaths and the faint heartbeat she could feel even at this distance for its location further down in his torso. "Elonat, you asked me once if you could live at the embassy on Earth," Soval's chest rumbled with his words, and Elonat smiled, giving a quick nod and a noise of confirmation, "do you still find this option agreeable?"

Elonat opened her eyes as she tipped her head upwards. Soval mirrored her movement so he could look directly into her eyes. Their faces were close, but neither of them seemed bothered by the proximity. There was no ill intent in his question, only openness and authentic warmth and concern for her well-being. Even through the small areas where their skin touched, Elonat could feel the constant influx of interest in her care radiating out from him.

"Yes," she broke the silence, "it is still most agreeable. When could we leave?"

Soval tipped his head to the side, as he often did when he was in thought, "I will check with the doctors once we arrive."

"Where are we going?"

Soval's ears seemed to tinge green again, but he spoke quickly, "I assumed that you would no longer desire to stay at the medical facility. I have asked my aides to prepare a room for you at my clan's apartment in the city. I have a full contingency of servants, male and female, quartered there as well so we would not be alone if that is a concern."

Elonat barked with laughter, but at Soval's Vulcan-equivalent look of pain, she stopped and patted his chest, "Soval, it would be illogical of me to be concerned over that. I helped you through _pon farr_ , albeit in a non-corporeal way, but if I felt any concern for my safety now, I'd have to be emotionally unhinged. And given the context of who I am and when I am let alone what I'm pregnant with, I'm most certainly not worried about my reputation on Vulcan." She narrowed her eyes then and drew back to study him more carefully. "The real question is, should YOU be concerned about your reputation? By having me stay with you and by continuing to have such close interactions with me, choosing to increase your relationship with me beyond what was necessary, are you or are you not potentially jeopardizing your career?"

Soval remained silent as he gave her question significant thought. While Elonat basked in his attention and his care, she did not want her desires to come between Earth and Vulcan relations. This proposed federation of planets, something Archer, Brenna, and even Soval had spoken to her about, was much more critical than her feeling welcomed or at home in the universe. If ensuring the success of this charter meant her having to strike out on her own, and sooner rather than later, then she'd do so.

"Some in the government may indeed find our closeness to be distasteful if not also unprofessional," he paused to measure his words, "but it is also true that some may find it to be most logical. It appears that regardless of if we join this charter that humans are going to continue to expand their exploration and interest beyond their own corner of the galaxy, and it would do us well to be acquainted with the particulars of their psyche." Soval gently squeezed his arm around her shoulder as if to offer reassurance. "My posting will not be up for reevaluation for another twenty years, so unless I do something entirely against protocol, there should be no reason to bring my abilities as ambassador into question."

Elonat had forgotten how the longevity of Vulcans would factor into their postings and positions and so found comfort in his words. She nodded and settled back again. They spent the remainder of the ride in comfortable silence, and the introduction to his staff and into his apartment was, thankfully, far less awkward than she expected. They all treated her with respect, and no one showed any ounce of disdain. Most likely, Soval had put the fear of termination into their hearts before her arrival, or perhaps he only employed those that embraced open-mindedness as he did. In any regards, she was settled into her room for a brief rest before dinner without any further drama, and she fell asleep within seconds of her head hitting the pillow.


End file.
